NCUA Board to Consider RBC Rule, but Not Bank Merger Plan
Two key issues are not on the agenda for the NCUA's final board meeting of the year.
The NCUA board on Thursday will vote on a final rule that likely will delay the effective date of its Risk-Based Capital regulation but will not discuss a plan governing credit union-bank purchases that Chairman Rodney Hood said the agency would consider by the end of the year.
A key House Republican said this week he is worried about that trend, raising the possibility that financial institutions might be using the process to evade taxes.
Agency officials Friday declined to discuss the status of any credit union-bank purchase plan.
Earlier this year, the board approved a proposed rule that would delay the effective date of the RBC rule from Jan. 1, 2020 to Jan. 1, 2022. The lone Democrat on the board, Todd Harper, voted against that plan.
The exact proposal to be voted on will not be available until the Dec. 12 board meeting.
Earlier this year, NCUA Board Chairman Rodney Hood told those attending the NAFCU Congressional Caucus that the agency would consider a rule governing bank purchases by the end of the year.
“If it makes it possible for a local financial institution to keep its doors open, then we must consider this factor,” he said at the time. “I am a strong believer in the free market, and one of my priorities is to be forward thinking. Later this year, I plan for the NCUA to consider a rulemaking on this issue to add even more transparency to the process.”
Hood was asked about the process when he appeared before the House Financial Services Committee earlier this week and said that the purchases demonstrated free markets at work.
And FDIC Chairwoman Jelena McWilliams said at the same hearing she was concerned about the purchases because credit unions are not subject to the Community Reinvestment Act and because they are tax-exempt institutions.
That drew a sharp rebuke by CUNA President Jim Nussle, following the meeting.
“These comments were misinformed, inaccurate and, frankly, something we would expect to hear from a banking lobbyist, not a banking regulator,” Nussle said, in a letter to McWilliams.
However, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) expressed similar concerns Thursday at a Financial Services Committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Luetkemeyer said that he understands that 28 banks were purchased by credit unions this year and that 14 more are “in the hopper.”
“This means those 28 banks, plus perhaps the other 14, are going to come off the [tax] rolls as taxpayers,” he said, adding that the FDIC and the NCUA do not seem concerned about the purchases.
“There’s some people who are starting to think outside the box,” Luetkemeyer said. “They’re looking at this as a tax loophole.”
Mnuchin said he was unaware of the issue and would discuss it with the FDIC.
Luetkemeyer is the ranking Republican on the committee’s Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions Subcommittee. His family has owned a bank, the Bank of St. Elizabeth, for decades. His brother, Brice Luetkemeyer, is the bank’s president.
The purchases of banks by credit unions has become the focus of a campaign by the Independent Community Bankers of America. The trade group has been asking lawmakers to “Wake Up” to credit union industry issues, including those transactions.
The NCUA board also will not be considering a rule governing subordinated debt, which Hood also promised by the end of the year. Hood told the Financial Services Committee this week that the issue is complex and that the agency is still working on it.
The board also is scheduled to adopt its 2020 budget and will receive a briefing on the agency’s Normal Operating Level. The board set that level at 1.38% last year, but has been under pressure by credit union trade groups to decrease it to 1.30%.