National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) Senior Regulatory Affairs Counsel Michael Emancipator today wrote the National Credit Union Administration's proposed amendments to its procedures for appealing material supervisory determinations (MSDs) to the Supervisory Review Committee (SRC).
In the letter, Emancipator wrote, "By providing broader avenues of redress, NCUA’s proposal takes a commendable step forward in responding to industry complaints about lack of a satisfactory appeals process. We applaud Chairman McWatters' and Board Member Metsger's leadership on this issue."
In the letter, Emancipator outlined several recommendations that "would increase the efficacy of the SRC process while simultaneously keeping the administrative burden low." Among his suggestions:
- ease the process further by adding more optionality, such as allowing a federally insured credit union to appeal a material supervisory determination directly to the SRC without being required to first request reconsideration from the program office;
- expand appealable material supervisory determinations to include CAMELS 1 or 2, both component and composite;
- increase disclosure of publicly available data through a reporting requirement summarizing disputed examination issues elevated by credit unions to regional directors for a regional determination;
- establish a credit union advisory council and an exam outreach officer that could conduct post-exam interviews with credit unions to determine whether the goals of a healthy exam are being met;
- create a consistent SRC and not one that rotates members, as the proposal suggests;
- increase the utility of the Ombudsman to the review process;
- adopt recent amendments made by other federal banking agencies, such as the FDIC's recent changes that broaden banks' avenues of redress and increase the utility of their SRC process; and
- support legislative efforts that would create an inter-agency material supervisory determinations review panel, such as the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act (Exam Fairness Act), H.R. 1941, introduced in the 114th Congress.
Attached please find the full-text of the letter: