Hood Urges Credit Unions to Respond to NCUA's Diversity Survey

NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood on Thursday urged federal credit unions to fill out the agency’s annual Voluntary Credit Union Diversity Self-Assessment, saying greater participation in the annual survey is needed to gather meaningful data.

“Credit unions are growing stronger, and they serve their members and communities better when they promote greater diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of their business model,” Hood said in a letter to federally insured credit unions.

Hood’s letter follows on the heels of the NCUA’s first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit conference.

In 2018, only 81 credit unions submitted the self-assessment; that was only 1.5% of all credit unions as of Dec. 31 of that year.

In 2017, 64 credit unions responded and the year before, 35 sent in their self-assessment.

“The NCUA is committed to supporting diversity and inclusion in the credit union system, and part of that commitment is building a database of credit unions’ activities related to diversity and inclusion,” Hood said.

He emphasized that the diversity self-assessment is not part of state or federal regulator examinations.

The cut-off date for submission of this year’s self-assessment is Jan. 15, 2020.

The 2018 report showed that just under half of the credit unions responding had implemented employment practices that expanded outreach efforts to diverse individuals.  And an overwhelming majority did not make their diversity and inclusion policies public.

And about one-third of those responded said they monitored and evaluated their diversity policies and practices.