NCUA Vice Chairman Kyle S. Hauptman
As Prepared for Delivery on November 18, 2021
Thank you, Melissa, for this presentation and to the OCFO team for pulling together recommendations from agency offices and the Board to build this draft strategic plan.
The goals and objectives in this five-year plan set the framework for achieving the agency’s mission to “protect the system of cooperative credit and its member-owners through effective chartering, supervision, regulation, and insurance.”
The strategic goals outline the agency’s three areas of responsibility: The credit union system, member-owners and consumers, and the organization itself. The strategic objectives break down how the agency will achieve those goals.
The plan recognizes that credit unions must be allowed to evolve technologically to remain viable. The agency needs to understand this evolution and provide guidance allowing credit unions to move forward confidently. Responsible oversight must be balanced with policies that allow for innovation. Sometimes that means getting out of the way, so credit unions don’t slowly go the way of Blockbuster Video.
The agency understands that the rapid pace of consolidation poses a risk to the long-term viability of the credit union movement. In particular, the plan addresses the vulnerability of new and smaller credit unions through several objectives. Among other things, these objectives include streamlining the chartering process, support for small credit unions, and credit unions designated as minority depository institutions.
Transparency and open dialog with stakeholders continue to be an area of focus. As the world emerges from the pandemic into whatever the new normal is, things may look different in ways we may not have anticipated. Increased communication, including exam feedback surveys and other tools, will help accelerate the identification of risks and trends sooner.
At the risk of over-communicating, I’d like to remind stakeholders that this is a draft plan. There is a 60-day comment period, and I urge you to provide your input.
With regards to the plan’s language around climate change and extreme weather, obviously, we don’t need to inform people in Miami that they have damaging hurricanes, nor those in agriculture that droughts are harmful. It may be most effective to approach this issue in that spirit.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes my remarks.