Fred Becker, president/ CEO of NAFCU has sent a letter to the NCUA Board questioning the need to increase the agency’s budget next year.
“I am writing in regard to our continued concerns over the agency’s budget. While we appreciate that the NCUA’s 2012 budget for guaranteed note securities management and oversight is lower than preliminary budget estimates, we still have significant concerns regarding NCUA’s overall increases in its operating budget for 2012 following the significant increase in 2011,” Becker said in a letter sent Monday to all three NCUA Board members.
Becker pointedly noted that the FDIC recently announced a 15.4% reduction in its 2012 budget.
“With more failures and fewer staff in proportion to the number of institutions it oversees as compared to the FDIC, we continue to seriously question why the agency has seen the need to increase its budget and staffing levels by 26, in the areas of examination and insurance,” Becker said.
“We fully recognize and appreciate that the safety and soundness of credit unions is of utmost importance and that the NCUA has to make some difficult fiscal decisions, given that every dollar a credit union must pay starts with a member at a teller window. We must, nevertheless, again, urge the agency to reduce its spending in 2012,” the letter said.
