With packed agenda, NCUA spreads Dec. board meeting over 2 days

The National Credit Union Administration on Thursday announced its December board meeting would be extended to two days.

The board traditionally meets once per month, but the volume of issues slated for the next meeting pushed the agency to expand the hearing to two days, Dec. 17 and 18.

The agency said in a press release the decision was part of an attempt "to ensure a transparent and open discussion of several policy issues affecting federally insured credit unions."

The agenda for the Dec. 17 meeting includes proposed rules on field of membership shared facility requirements, mortgage servicing rights and overdraft policies. Earlier this year in a high-profile defeat for NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood, the board struck down a proposal on overdrafts. Those sorts of defeats are exceedingly rare, and at the time Hood indicated he would consider bringing the proposal forward at a later date. That measure could have a better chance of moving forward following Mark McWatters’s exit from the board and Kyle Hauptman’s confirmation. Hauptman is expected to be on-hand for the December meetings.

That meeting will also include a final rule on subordinated debt and a board briefing regarding the normal operating level for the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.

Despite the full agenda Thursday, the real fireworks could come on Friday when the board will vote on the proposed 2021-2022 budget. Hood was the only member of the panel to support that plan, and McWatters’s objections to it led to him being forced out of the agency. Board member Todd Harper also expressed reservations about the proposal during a public budget briefing earlier this month. The wild card is Hauptman, since comparatively little is known about his regulatory philosophy or his approach to the agency, though he is widely expected to vote alongside Hood in favor of the plan.

Industry groups raised their own concerns about the budget during the hearing earlier this month, but additional reactions are expected once public comments on the plan become available sometime next week. Dec. 11 was the final day to submit comments.

Both meetings will be held remotely and streamed live on the agency’s website. A closed board meeting is also scheduled for the afternoon of Dec. 18.