WASHINGTON-NCUA Vice Chairman Rodney Hood and FDIC Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg held a meeting last week to update consumer and financial services organizations on the upcoming changes to federal deposit insurance coverage. "I was pleased that the NCUA and FDIC joined together for such an important forum to discuss the implementation of deposit insurance changes recently signed into law by President Bush," Hood commented. "It is vital that credit unions have accurate information available for members. We look forward to the assistance of those within the credit union system and consumer affairs in outreach efforts concerning enhancements to deposit insurance." CUNA, NAFCU, and NASCUS represented credit unions at the March 13 meeting in preparation for the interim final rules issued by the federal deposit insurers later last week. The new law will allow NCUA and FDIC to index deposit insurance coverage levels to inflation every five years beginning in 2010 and raises the deposit insurance cap on certain retirement accounts from $100,000 to $250,000 as well as indexing them. NCUA also plans to amend its share insurance rules to clarify insurance coverage for qualified tuition programs, commonly referred to as 529 plans, and share accounts denominated in foreign currencies.