A man a dog and his blog

by. Henry Meier

Having waved my family goodbye on Friday morning as they headed off to Ocean City Md. I was a man alone with his thoughts and no blog to write so when I read the CU Times article reporting on NCUA’s listening tour stop in Chicago I could do nothing but explain RBC reform to my dog. I’m pretty sure he just wanted to go for a walk. Here is what I told him.

–It’s good news that chairman Matz affirmed NCUA’s decision to extend the 18 month phase-in period for RBC reform even if she couldn’t resist lapsing into exasperated school-mum mode when she predicted that “no matter how long we extend it will never be enough.” The Chairman is half right: Some credit unions won’t be happy until the effective date is” sometime after when Hell freezes over.”

But she shouldn’t be too dismissive. Eighteen months is too short a period to make the necessary capital adjustments; train key staff; review investment policies and make sure vendor software is up to speed. I personally would give credit unions three years to be in compliance with these regulations so that the most impacted institutions can actually choose between cutting their balance sheets and growing to meet enhanced capital demands. But hey I’m just a middle-aged guy with a hyper dog.

Personally I’m as concerned with implementing a phase in period for credit unions currently below the $50 billion threshold than I am pushing back the effective date. Since credit unions that reach $50 billion are immediately required to operate under the RBC framework, growing credit unions have to start adjusting their practices long before RBC officially applies to them. Some credit unions have suggested a phase in period for institutions that reach the magic number. NCUA should also consider raising the threshold. It’s in no one’s interest for a credit union to slow down its growth simply to avoid the RBC framework,

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