NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz gave a subtle answer to those who have called for a moratorium on corporate assessments in a Letter to Credit Unions posted on the regulator's website Thursday.

Matz didn't say the NCUA will charge a 2014 corporate assessment, but she did point out that after the 2013 assessment is paid, the estimated remaining corporate stabilization costs of $900 million to $3.2 billion don't account for the timing of cash inflows and outflows that determine the actual figure.

“Remaining cash flows include guaranty payments on some NGNs, assets remaining to be monetized from the failed corporates, and some projected residual value remaining from the legacy assets collateralizing the NGNs that will not be available until the NGNs mature,” Matz said.

The NCUA will continue to evaluate on an annual basis a combination of factors that determine annual corporate assessments, she said, which include independent modeling of projected cash flows by asset management firm BlackRock, the impact of the assessment on the credit union industry, the actual performance of the legacy assets, and the projected conversion of other corporate assets in the asset management estates into cash.

After the NCUA board set the 2013 corporate assessment rate at 8 basis points at the July 25 meeting, CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney released a statement calling for the NCUA to eliminate or reduce future payouts.

“We strongly urge NCUA to consider, in the future, minimizing or even eliminating future corporate stabilization fund assessments, based on today's action by the NCUA Board,” he said.

“Our analysis indicates that this year's assessment amount of about $700 million could well be sufficient to cover the remaining losses on the legacy assets acquired from the five failed corporate credit unions,” Cheney said.

The $700.9 million the NCUA expects to receive from the assessment will be applied to outstanding borrowings from the U.S. Treasury. After repaying at least $650 million from the assessment, the NCUA will have a remaining borrowing line of nearly $2 billion, which it would use to cover liquidity needs from both corporate stabilization and the NCUSIF. The $650 million payment will leave a little more than $4 billion outstanding to the Treasury.

Matz also provided information in the letter about the assessment, including its effect on industry net worth and payment and accounting details.

All federally insured credit unions will receive an invoice for the assessment in September; the payment is due by Oct. 16. However, she said credit unions should have expensed the assessment in July.

Additionally, the entire expense must be reported on the Sept. 30 Call Report's income statement using the Temporary Corporate CU Stabilization Fund Assessment line, which is account code 311.

While the 2013 assessment will improve the NCUA's bottom line, it is projected to reduce ROA for the credit unions it regulates by 7 basis points and the aggregate net worth ratio by 6 basis points. As of March 31, the industry's average ROA was 0.83% and net worth was 10.31%.

NCUA examiners will continue take into account the impact of the assessment when evaluating and rating earnings and net worth performance. Matz said. The evaluation of earnings focuses on many factors, including a credit union's risk profile, operational structure and strategic plans.

Instant Insights /

Matz: Future Assessments Must Keep Cash Flows in Mind

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