As Prepared for Delivery on January 26, 2023
Thank you, Melissa and Lindsay for this presentation. I’d also like to congratulate everyone who worked on the 2023 Annual Performance Plan. Last year the Board approved the Plan in March. Thanks to the efforts of many to get the Budget and the Strategic Plan done in a timelier fashion, we are reviewing this plan two months earlier than last year.
This document sets NCUA’s annual priorities within the over-arching goals of the Strategic Plan. NCUA’s overarching goals remain the same. They are:
- Ensure a safe, sound, and viable system
- Improve the financial well-being of individuals and communities
- Maximize NCUA organizational performance
I was pleased last year to see more emphasis on quantifiable indicators in the 2022 Plan. This year’s plan continues that trend with a greater focus on output-oriented and outcome-oriented results.
I am a firm believer that safety and soundness – one of our core guiding principles – is enhanced by regulatory clarity. Vague regulation is bad regulation.
I appreciate my fellow Board members’ foresight in 2022 to improve regulatory clarity by issuing Proposed Rule Parts 701 and 714 Financial Innovation – Loan Participation, Eligible Obligations and Notes of Liquidating Credit Unions. This year’s plan includes the next step of issuing a final rule on financial technology and loan participations – among other things. Board Member Hood deserves special recognition on this issue.
Safety and soundness is also improved by open and transparent communication with stakeholders. In 2023 NCUA continues to normalize the use of quality assurance tools such as feedback surveys by further anonymizing responses.
I’m pleased that one of my priorities in the plan: “Ensure the quality and consistency of examinations and examination reports through rigorous quality assurance processes, including by normalizing quality-assurance tools such as feedback surveys and the use of recordings during exit meetings and joint conferences.” Thanks again to my fellow Board Members and senior NCUA staff for working diligently to make NCUA a model for modern communication and transparency.
I continue to urge federal credit unions to record their exit meetings and joint exam conferences. The recordings are beneficial for the credit unions and the agency as they provide a resource for new examiners, credit union staff, and boards. By not having to determine what was said, examiners and credit unions can save time and focus on moving forward. In this era – especially after the pandemic – it’s never been easier nor more normal to have records of these meetings. I always think about a situation where the credit union has a new CEO and NCUA has sent a new examiner. Neither the examiner nor the CEO were around for the last exam. How useful would it be to be able to view that prior exam’s exit meeting? These days we can even read that meeting, given that services like Zoom easily generate transcripts.
Now I have some questions to ask.
QUESTION 1: Under Strategic Goal 3 there is a new indicator that sets a goal to onboard examiners. How does this indicator relate to the number of examiners approved in the 2023-2024 budget?
- FOLLOW UP QUESTION: So, this is just filling existing positions, not adding headcount?
QUESTION 2: Would you please explain how this plan is different from last year?
QUESTION 3: Can you give us an example of how some indicators are more focused on output- and outcome-oriented results and what that means?