A proposed rule on risk-based capital is on the just-released agenda for next week’s National Credit Union Administration’s open board meeting.

The current 7% leverage capital standard was set by statute in 1998. While only the U.S. Congress can change the statute, NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said in July that the recent financial crisis and changes in the ways the industry operates means the agency must make changes to how it implements the law by adopting a more flexible and forward-looking approach.

The Credit Union National Association has supported net worth standard changes that better reflect risk than the present approach does, but which will not simply add net worth requirements to the current system. CUNA has also been urging the agency to adopt a more productive approach to rulemaking that focuses on problem areas rather than issuing rules with blanket applicability, regardless of the credit unions level of risk. CUNA’s Examination and Supervision Subcommittee has met with NCUA officials on the capital ratio issue.

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