NCUA’s advertising statement and websites

The NAFCU compliance team has received several questions in recent weeks regarding whether a federally-insured credit union (ficu) can include the “official advertising statement” regarding share insurance in the footer on its website. for those unfamiliar with this issue, let’s review what this means:

Section 740.5 of the NCUA’s Rules and Regulations imposes requirements regarding the “official advertising statement.” Section 740.5(b) provides the following examples for the content of the advertising statement:

(i) This credit union is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration;

(ii) Federally insured by NCUA;

(iii) Insured by NCUA; or

(iv) A reproduction of the official sign as described in § 740.4(b) may be used in lieu of the other statements included in this section. If the official sign is used as the official advertising statement, an insured credit union may alter the font size to ensure its legibility as provided in § 740.4(b)(2).

Section 740.5(a) requires the official advertising statement to be included on the FICU’s website homepage, as well as all of its advertisements. The term “advertisement” is defined broadly in section 740.1(b) to mean “a commercial message, in any medium, that is designed to attract public attention or patronage to a product or business” (emphasis added). Thus, NCUA’s Rules and Regulations require an FICU to include a statement about share insurance on the FICU’s main webpage as well as any other commercial message designed to attract public attention to a product.

 

continue reading »