WASHINGTON — NCUA staff were on hand to discuss many of the hot button regulatory issues of the day at CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference.

Talk of revamping or eliminating the examination matrix has received mixed reviews. NCUA Director of Supervision Joy Lee said during an education session, "There are a lot of things that make the CAMEL matrix not work anymore. Credit unions complain about it. Examiners complain about it." In particular, the 1% ROA benchmark does not fit today's economy or credit unions.

CUNA and NAFCU have previous expressed support for revisiting the matrix. However, Helen Godfrey Smith, CEO of the $56 million Shreveport Federal Credit Union and a member of the board of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, expressed concern about NCUA's proposed removal of the exam matrix. "It was meant to tie the hands of examiners to an objective standard should they decide they don't like something you might have done. Getting rid of the matrix seems to me to be a signal that NCUA is taking a step backward when it comes to regulation–back to the days when an examiner could make life really difficult, particularly for smaller credit unions," she stated.