Comments on the Proposed Budget Due by Oct. 27
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Oct. 18, 2017) – The National Credit Union Administration’s proposed 2018-2019 budget process continued today with a public briefing, and Board members encouraged credit union stakeholders to provide the agency with comments.
During the briefing today, NCUA Board Chairman J. Mark McWatters said the proposed budget reflects the Board’s efforts to “discharge our responsibilities with transparency, thoughtfulness, and deliberateness.”
“Board Member Metsger and I have worked diligently to balance the NCUA’s mission of ensuring safety and soundness of the credit union system and the Share Insurance Fund,” McWatters said. “The 2018-2019 budget proposal exemplifies this same ethos: forward-looking strategies that enable the agency to meet future challenges and take advantage of opportunities. It is another step in the NCUA’s broader effort to realign its resources to meet the needs of an evolving credit union system in a cost-effective manner. I hope credit union stakeholders will study the proposed budget carefully and provide us with thoughtful, but specific suggestions on where we can make improvements.”
“We are re-tooling our business model to reflect changes in the industry while making sure agency staff have the resources they need to fulfill their responsibilities,” Board Member Rick Metsger said. “This process does come with some near-term costs but will also yield long-term benefits as NCUA works smarter and more efficiently.”
A detailed budget proposal and budget presentation, totaling approximately 150 pages, from today’s briefing are available on the agency’s Budget and Supplementary Materials webpage. The page also includes extensive agency budget documents—including frequently asked questions, office-by-office budget breakdowns, and budget justifications—from previous years.
Credit union stakeholders presented comments during the briefing, and written comments can be submitted to the agency until Friday, Oct. 27, at 5 p.m. Eastern. Those should be submitted by email to BudgetComments@ncua.gov and should provide specific, actionable recommendations rather than general remarks about the size or structure of the budget.
A video of today’s briefing will be available on the agency’s website in the near future.
In the last year, the NCUA has taken significant steps to become more efficient. The agency in July announced its restructuring plan that includes closing 40 percent of its regional offices, eliminating overlapping office functions, and re-tooling its business model.
In November 2016, the Board adopted a 2017 budget incorporating recommendations from the Exam Flexibility Initiative that included cost-saving measures such as an extended examination cycle and a smaller agency footprint in credit unions.