NCUA spelled out this week process details and reasoning behind some of its conservatorship and merger policies, which have come to the fore this month following a spate of failures of small to medium size CUs.

The disclosure follows heightened internal industry debate on exactly how the regulator chooses and follows through with "bidders' conferences" and evaluations of suitors named to acquire or merge the troubled CUs.

In a statement to Credit Union Times, which focused just on Region IV, NCUA said it invites CUs to bidders' conferences by looking "at the capital structure, complexity of the continuing credit union's balance sheet, delinquency and loan loss performance as well as earnings performance" making a selection based on what CU "we feel can handle the merger."