ALEXANDRIA, Va.—When it comes toa 2014 corporate assessment, NCUA Board Member Rick Metsger said hedoesn't yet have a position on an estimated range, which theregulator has traditionally revealed in November.

However, while Metsger said he wants to keep any futureassessments as low as possible, reducing the outstanding $4 billionowed to the U.S. Treasury line is in the best interest of theindustry.

“The debt to Treasury is a known, and I think it's important todeal with known deficits as opposed to the unknown,” Metsger saidTuesday in an interview at NCUA headquarters.

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He was referring to unknown factors that could impact the costof corporate stabilization, such as corporate legacy asset performance and rising interest rates.

Metsger also said liquidity risk is a factor.

“We're telling credit unions to manage liquidity risk;meanwhile, our liquidity has shrunk,” he said.

The NCUA's newest board member said he's positive the NCUA'slawsuits against investment banks could yield more settlements,which would reduce future assessments. The regulator has suedseveral banks that sold non-performing investments to corporatecredit unions; losses on those investments caused the collapse offive corporates and triggered the corporate stabilization effortand resulting annual assessment.

“From what I've been briefed on, I think our cases are verygood,” he said.

Metsger said major banks and regulators, including the NCUA,continue to negotiate possible settlements.

“Our responsibility is to maximize those recoveries for ourmember institutions. How much that will be and where it will comefrom, we still don't know. The legal process is what it is,” hesaid.

Settlements totaling $335 million already have been reached withBank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities andHSBC.