NCUA Begins Two-Year Regulatory Review
The review is voluntary and not required under the EGRPRA law
The Nation Credit Union Administration is conducting a two-year review of its rules and will be soliciting public comment on several categories of regulations, the agency announced last week.
“As contemplated by the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996, the NCUA board is reviewing its regulations to identify rules that are outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome on federally insured credit unions,” the NCUA said, in announcing the plan.
Over the next two years, the NCUA will publish four notices in the Federal Register requesting comment on multiple categories of rules. The first Federal Register notice, published on May 23, requests comments on rules governing “applications and reporting” and “powers and activities.”
“The decennial regulatory review provides a significant opportunity for the public and the board to consider groups of related regulations and identify possibilities for streamlining and improvement,” the NCUA said.
The NCUA noted that it is not required to solicit comments as part of a review of its regulations, since the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 only requires the federal banking agencies to go through such a review.
“The NCUA is not statutorily required to undertake the EGRPRA review because the NCUA is not an ‘appropriate Federal banking agency,’ as specified in EGRPRA,” the NCUA said. “In keeping with the spirit of the law, however, the NCUA Board has once again elected to participate in the decennial review process.”
The NCUA has joined the federal banking agencies in planning the review, but has issued its own document, which agency officials said is comparable to the Federal Register notice issued by the banking agencies.
The law requires the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council to submit a report that summarizes public comments. The report also must include an analysis of whether the issues raised can be addressed through regulatory changes or must be addressed through legislation enacted by Congress. In the past, the report included a separate section on NCUA regulations.