Long to NCUA: Budget increases not necessary to adapt, innovate
During yesterday’s NCUA Board 2021-2022 budget briefing, NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long thanked the board for its budget transparency and stakeholder engagement, and encouraged the agency to “continue to find ways of adapting to the changing environment and transitioning to new supervision and examination methods that do not result in significant year-over-year budget increases.”
Long noted that while the agency’s 2021 budget is a 0.1 percent decrease from its 2020 approved budget – due to travel-related savings amid the coronavirus pandemic – the 2022 estimated operating budget would be an 8.3 percent increase from the 2021 budget should it be approved as proposed.
Among Long’s recommendations to achieve budget reductions is continuing to pursue exam modernization efforts and find cost-saving opportunities in the transition to primarily virtual exams. With the travel-related savings in 2020, Long argued that those funds should not be automatically allocated for travel costs next year.
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