NCUA Chairman Rodney E. Hood Opening Statement During the May 2020 Open Meeting of the NCUA Board

As Prepared For Delivery on May 21, 2020

Good morning, everyone, and welcome. I call this meeting of the NCUA Board to order.

I want to note for the record that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, today’s meeting is open to the public via a live webcast only. During this difficult time, the NCUA staff have risen to the challenge.

Although our nation is facing a serious public health emergency that demands much of the NCUA’s attention, that doesn’t mean we have to come to a standstill. While we are experiencing a significant public health threat and a serious challenge to the economy, the NCUA, as I’ve said before, is still open for business, still looking ahead, and still working to ensure the safety and soundness of the industry. We remain fully committed to ensuring the industry has the ability to continue meeting the financial needs of credit union members during this difficult time and to do our part to provide regulatory relief to support the economic recovery.

To that end, I wanted to publicly announce that as an independent agency the NCUA will be voluntarily following the spirit of President Trump’s Executive Order on Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery issued on Tuesday.

During the pandemic, I have continued to check in with credit union leaders across the nation to hear firsthand how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting credit unions and their employees and members. Recently, I spoke with a credit union that was able to provide a Paycheck Protection Program loan to a minority barbershop in rural Alabama. Similarly, in Mississippi, a historically black college received a PPP loan from a credit union after not being able to secure a loan from any other financial institution. During this crisis, credit unions are leading the way and holding true to their mission of “people helping people” that has guided the industry since its founding.

The NCUA has already issued several regulatory updates that clarify the treatment of PPP loans for purposes of calculating a credit union’s net worth ratio, its compliance with member business lending requirements, and the risk weighting the NCUA will apply to these types of government-guaranteed loans. I have also directed the NCUA’s Acting Chief Financial Officer to develop approaches for how PPP loans could be excluded from the calculation of the Operating Fee charged to federal credit unions and any other improvements to the Operating Fee methodology that should be made. I expect we will discuss the Operating Fee methodology and the treatment of PPP loans at one of our upcoming Board meetings.

I encourage credit unions to continuously monitor the NCUA’s COVID-19 Resources webpage for updates and contact us with questions and concerns at COVID19Questions@NCUA.gov, so that we can continue to respond to the industry’s needs as efficiently and as effectively as possible.