New Voting Poll: How Much CU Experience Should the NCUA Board Have?

WASHINGTON – If Rodney Hood is indeed appointed to the NCUA Board, it will be a board of three individuals who have no credit union experience. This could of course be a short-lived situation as Debbie Matz's seat will soon turn over and her successor could have CU experience. On the other end of the spectrum, last Thursday CUNA testified before Congress on regulatory relief and asked, among other things, that the restriction that only one NCUA Board member can have credit union experience be eliminated. While having a board with no CU experience is not going to be looked at favorably by the credit union industry, having a board of say two credit union people could be problematic. It could further the bankers' oft-touted claim that NCUA is a "cheerleader" for the credit union industry. Credit unions do not want to make moves based solely on banker reaction, but would the extra scrutiny of a board of more than one CU person be good for credit unions politically? This is the subject of Credit Union Times' latest voting poll. The question is as follows: Current regulations aside, ideally, how many members of the three-person NCUA Board should have credit union experience? * None * One * Two * All three * Not sure