Credit unions frustrated with the time and expense it takes tocomplete the NCUA's 5300 Call Reports will be able to share their complaintswith CUNA. The credit union trade association said it is planningto launch a brief survey within the next week or so that will allowcredit unions to grade the call report process.

Developed by Mike Schenk, CUNA's acting chief economist, thebrief survey is designed to measure the impact of both NCUA's 5300call reports and its credit union profile report, Form 4501A.

Using a scale of 1 for “disagree strongly” to 5 for “agreestrongly,” respondents will be asked to grade 21 statements thatrelate to the ease and usefulness of completing call reports, andwhether well-capitalized credit unions should be allowed tocomplete “short-form” call reports.

In addition, the survey will ask what single, realistic changeto quarterly reporting requirements would best reduce regulatoryburden. It will also request the credit union's charter number toprovide a demographic context by which to measure surveyresults.

CUNA said individual responses will not be made public.

CUNA's survey falls on the heels of a similar survey launched in May by the Independent CommunityBankers Association, which measured responses from its 6,500 memberinstitutions to many of the same questions.

Bank call reports currently top out at 80 pages per quarter,while NCUA's call report runs 29 pages.

As a result its survey efforts, the ICBA is lobbying the FDIC,FFIEC, OCC and the Federal Reserve Board to allow community banksto file a short-form report for the first and third quarters, andthe current, longer report for the second and fourth quarters. TheIBCA also has an electronic online survey that members can signthat will be forwarded to the appropriate regulatory agencies.

CUNA's survey, currently in draft form, will likely bedistributed in August, although no firm plans were indicated byCUNA officials at press time.