Nearly 5% of CUs Participated in NCUA’s Diversity Self-Assessment, Report Shows

The NCUA released the latest results from its 2021 Credit Union Diversity Self-Assessment (CUDSA) on Tuesday in which 240 credit unions (4.8% of all U.S. credit unions) took part in the voluntary assessment – a number that increased over 2020’s report of 187 credit unions.

The 2021 report revealed a number of positive steps in areas of diversity from responding credit unions, including the following:

• 61% reported its leadership and organizational commitment to diversity;
• 56% reported taking steps to implement employment practices to demonstrate that commitment; and
• 31% reported monitoring and assessing diversity policies and practices.

The NCUA deployed the CUDSA in 2016 to comply with regulations in the Dodd-Frank Act. The CUDSA is completely voluntary and is not part of the NCUA or state regulatory examination process. The NCUA described the CUDSA as “a useful tool for credit unions to guide their DEI journey.”

In this latest report, the CUDSA results stated, “Women comprised a slight majority of credit union managers and chief executive officers. However, women managers and CEOs outnumbered men only in credit unions with less than $100 million in assets. Men represented the majority of the CEOs in credit unions with assets of $100 million or more.”

“For the U.S. credit union system to succeed and achieve its full potential, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging must be a strategic objective,” NCUA Chairman Todd Harper said. “We have, across the system, seen improvements in DEI prioritization and performance in recent years, but we must strive to continue that progress. The CUDSA is a positive way for credit unions to embrace DEI principles. The 2021 assessment results provide credit unions with valuable information to measure and better manage their DEI progress.”

According to the report, since the implementation of the CUDSA, the results have shown that responding credit unions continuously report the following:

• A strong leadership and organizational commitment to diversity;
• A low level of engagement when it comes to supplier diversity;
• A solid record of improvement in all areas assessed for those credit unions submitting CUDSAs in consecutive years;
• A consistent pattern of women making up the majority of the management ranks in credit unions with assets under $100 million while men comprise the majority of the management ranks in credit unions with assets above $100 million; and
• A lack of credit unions publishing information pertaining to their assessment of their own diversity policies and practices.

The public can view the full report on the NCUA’s website.