News Update: Jan. 13, 2012 – NCUA Orders Two Exams a Year in NC in Response

The CEO at the nation's second-largest credit union said hisinstitution doesn't need to hide its CAMEL score and that perhapsothers shouldn't either.

After clearing it with state regulators, the $23 billion StateEmployees' Credit Union of North Carolina announcedWednesday that it has a CAMEL score of 2 on a scale of 1 to 5,where 1 is the best.

SECU said it sought permission from the N.C. Credit UnionDivision to disclose its individual CAMEL score, which areconfidential, and the 2 score was in its June 30 audit report fromstate regulators.

It's all about transparency and reform, says the CEO of the 1.7million-member institution.

“Shining a little sun under the rock never hurt anyone,” JimBlaine told Credit Union Times on Thursday. “If a creditunion has a problem with its CAMEL rating being revealed, perhapsthere's a deeper problem there, something going on that managersneed to address and members need to know about.”

Blaine said that he thought such information should be publiclyavailable on a routine basis, but added, “That's up to individualcredit unions and the regulators to decide.”

The NCUA regularly releases information about CAMEL scoreswithout identifying individual credit unions, and announced inAugust it would begin sharing ratings of federally insured state-charteredcredit unions with state regulators.

As for the move by SECU, the agency “does not release CAMELcodes or any other confidential supervisory information. The CAMELinformation released is not NCUA's CAMEL rating of SECU,” aspokesperson said.

In the interview Thursday, Blaine noted that his credit union isone of three (along with Navy Federal and PenFed) that are over $10billion in assets and thus fall under the purview of the newConsumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“As institutions get larger, it becomes harder for members andcustomers to really grasp the organization that they trust theirmoney to. We think more should be expected of large institutionslike us,” Blaine said.

He also said SECU's move is a step towards the transparency hesaid is needed for effective reform in the nation's financialsystem, and that credit unions should “lead the way.”

“I'm uncertain who's being protected by not revealing orpublishing this stuff,” he said. “Isn't it a heck of a lot betterto have an informed membership than having people occupy WallStreet or Pennsylvania Avenue?”