NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said Wednesday the agency had no choice but to end its joint exams with North Carolina regulators because they “violated the trust’’ by allowing State Employees’ CU to release its CAMEL Rating.
News Update:
Feb. 10, 2012 - NCUA Says Dual Exams Over, For Now
“We apologize for any inconvenience as a result of our action but the decision to allow the release of the CAMEL rating is a violation of our policies and the sacred trust that existed,’’ Matz said during a virtual town hall meeting with credit unions .
“Once that trust was violated, we had no confidence in our relationship with the regulator. We cannot have a relationship with a regulator who doesn’t honor our regulations,’’ Matz said.
SECU released its CAMEL score last October after getting permission from the N.C. Credit Union Division and that state’s attorney general’s office.
The NCUA in the past couple weeks has been sending examiners to 52 state-chartered, federally insured credit unions in North Carolina, saying the $24 billion SECU’s disclosure of its CAMEL score last fall meant the agency could no longer rely on dual examinations with state regulators.
The extra examinations have prompted complaints from some CU executives and calls for the two agencies to settle their differences.
Matz said the state regulator could end the dispute by suspending the pilot program allowing State Employees’ CU to release its CAMEL rating and order the credit union to remove the rating from its web site.
NCUA Executive Director David Marquis said the release of ratings has a “chilling effect,’’ on the agency’s ability to resolve problems at certain credit unions.
Marquis said the additional examinations won’t lead to higher assessments because it is a routine shifting of agency resources.
