NCUA Board Member Tanya F. Otsuka during a meeting of the NCUA Board.
As Prepared for Delivery on October 24, 2024
Thank you, Martha and Leilani, for the presentation and to the CURE team for all the work you do to provide technical assistance to credit unions, manage the Community Development Revolving Loan Fund program, and serve as a resource to small credit unions. Chartering new credit unions is integral to maintaining a resilient and enduring credit union system. New credit unions allow for individuals to gain access to greater financial opportunities, such as saving for retirement or buying a home. It also creates increased competition in our financial system. This ultimately leads to credit unions looking for better ways to serve their members and attract new ones.
On that note, I support CURE having the resources it needs to process applications in a timely manner, including the expansion of CAPRIS to have better functionality. Our presentation shows a slight uptick in the application processing time for new charters, even though it is still much lower than what it was prior to 2021. I would like to work with my fellow Board members and your office to make sure the new chartering process is running smoothly, and we are communicating with credit unions in a timely manner.
Additionally, thank you for your work on processing applications for underserved areas. Credit unions being able to serve these areas, despite their original fields of membership, speaks to the purpose of system of cooperative credit, which is to provide credit to those of modest means. However, we need to continue to ensure credit unions are indeed serving these communities, especially since we have seen a significant uptick in these applications since 2021. Thank you for the work your team has done to improve this process so far, including making sure credit unions are providing the required service facilities in underserved areas. Ultimately, this program exists to serve communities forgotten by the traditional banking system and I want to make sure we have not lost sight of that. I have no further questions but look forward to our continued engagement on this issue.
Thank you.