The NCUA board Thursday unanimously approved a final rule thatprovides enhanced pass-through share insurance coverage for real estateagents' escrow accounts, prepaid funeral accounts and other escrowaccounts similar to lawyers' trust accounts. Currently, the NCUA'sinsurance coverage was limited only to clients who were alsomembers of the insured credit union where an attorney established alawyers' trust account.

However, CUNA criticized the rule because it didn't also extendcoverage to prepaid cards.

“We have little doubt that the law gives (the) NCUA theauthority to extend insurance coverage to prepaid accounts, and weare very disappointed that (the) NCUA has not exercised thatauthority at this time,” CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle said in arelease. “While we appreciate recent actions on business lendingand field of membership aimed at removing from regulationrequirements that are not in law, this final rule is an example ofthe agency unnecessarily impeding access to credit unions by makingit more difficult for them to offer products and services to theirmembers.”