NCUA Board proposes NAFCU-sought FOM reforms
The NCUA held its February board meeting yesterday and unanimously approved a proposed rule that would reform several NCUA field of membership (FOM) requirements and definitions. The proposal includes a NAFCU-requested change to expand membership eligibility to all immediate family and household members of a deceased member and also aims to enhance consumer access to financial services while reducing administrative burden and streamlining the application process for prospective members.
“NAFCU thanks the NCUA Board for being receptive to important field of membership reforms that allow the credit union industry to better serve their communities,” said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. “This proposal to, among other things, improve field of membership application processes by eliminating unnecessary and duplicative paperwork requirements will improve credit unions’ ability to add underserved areas. Additionally, the proposed changes to address the survivorship issue is a compassionate move to ensure no credit union member’s family has unnecessary burdens to manage when a loved one passes away.
“Credit unions are there for every important milestone in a member’s life, and we appreciate the NCUA Board’s effort to protect those longstanding relationships. NAFCU looks forward to gathering feedback and providing comments to the agency on the details of these and other changes,” Berger added.
In addition, the NCUA passed the final rule to implement the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA). The rule goes into effect on Sept. 1 and requires federally-insured credit unions (FICUs) to report any “reportable cyber incident” to the NCUA within 72 hours. The rule does clarify that FICUs are not required to report an incident occurring to a third party, regardless of if that third party has information about the FICU’s members or employees. NAFCU previously requested this clarification, but has also shared concerns around the 72-hour reporting timeframe and how it could pose administrative burdens on credit unions.
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