Credit union trade groups are voicing their support for newly introduced legislation that would require the NCUA to provide a detailed analysis of how funds in the Share Insurance Fund are used.

H.R. 5869 is co-sponsored by Reps. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) and Denny Heck (D-Wash.). It would require any overhead transfer of agency expenses to the insurance fund to be legitimate, substantiated, insurance-related costs.

The OTR determines what percentage of the NCUA's operating budget will be drawn from the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund and used to cover expenses related to federal share insurance. In August 2015, the NCUA announced it would publish and seek comment on its OTR methodology for the first time in January 2016.

CUNA said the NCUA has taken steps to open up the OTR process.

“We appreciate that your legislation goes several steps further, by requiring that [the] NCUA publish a detailed analysis of how its expenses are assigned between prudential activities and insurance-related activities, and the extent to which those expenses are paid from the fees collected pursuant to Section 105, or from the Fund,” CUNA wrote in a letter to the legislators.

NASCUS also endorsed the legislation.

“At NASCUS, our goal for years has been to give the credit union system the opportunity to evaluate and respond to [the] NCUA's allocation of expenses – and this measure, once enacted, will be significant in helping us reach that goal,” NASCUS President/CEO Lucy Ito said.