The NCUA on Friday released a public version of its new National Supervision Policy Manual, which describes the agency's internal operations and procedures for supervisory staff.

“The new manual brings more consistency and clarity to NCUA's supervisory operations and procedures across the country,” said Chairman Debbie Matz. “In the past, practices have sometimes varied by region, and we felt it was important to bring these processes into a framework to improve and standardize credit union supervision.”

The manual is the product of a two-year project to improve consistency and improve the agency's ability to operate efficiently across regions. The NCUA started training examiners on the procedures outlined in the NSPM in April.

“Credit unions have relayed to me they are already seeing exam consistency improvements since the NSPM procedures went live nationally in July of this year. NCUA will review and update the NSPM as warranted,” Matz said.

The public version of the manual is significantly redacted; for example, pages 119 through 187 are not included. The NCUA said some of the information “could impair NCUA's ability to minimize losses to the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund or negatively affect the agency's ability to conduct effective supervision.”

Credit unions already have access to the NCUA's Examiner's Guide. A copy of the NSPM is available on the NCUA's website.