NCUA Board Pleased with Credit Union Exam Survey Pilot

Agency will continue and may expand survey.

A pilot program to survey credit unions about their examinations has been a success, National Credit Union Administration Ombudsman Shameka Sutton told the agency board Thursday.

And Sutton said that the results of the survey show that respondents believed that examiners are doing a good job.

“The new post-examination survey the NCUA has piloted is well crafted, and it has provided valuable feedback on the agency’s program, NCUA Chairman Todd Harper said during the board’s June meeting. “And, the survey’s results demonstrate that examiners are performing well overall.”

The pilot program operated between Sept. 20, 2021 and the end of March, 2022, Sutton said. She added that 1,058 credit unions received the survey and 186 responded. The 17% response was “sufficiently valid” to allow the agency to draw some conclusions, Sutton said.

Every credit union responding to the survey said the exam review conducted included the areas that pose the greatest risk to their institution. The survey addressed several areas, including whether credit union officials were informed of their appeal rights and whether they had advance knowledge of when their exam would be held.

The survey showed that at least 90% of the respondents were satisfied with specific areas of the exam—with one exception. Only 61% of those responding said examiners included citations for “NCUA Rules and Regulations, GAAP, or other binding standard or requirement” for issues raised. Another 37% said the question was not relevant.

Agency officials said the NCUA will continue the pilot program and determine whether questions should be added. In addition, agency officials said they will research the hiring of an outside entity to conduct the survey.

Board Vice Chairman Kyle Hauptman, a former aide to Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said that while he was on Capitol Hill, he would receive complaints from “regulated entities” about problems with their regulators. In many cases, officials said they had not spoken with their regulator about the issue because they believed the regulator was not interested in receiving feedback.

“In most of the cases when I was on the Hill, the regulator felt everything was working just fine while the regulated institution was too afraid to tell them otherwise,” he said.

Other Issues to Be Addressed

Following the survey presentation, board member Rodney Hood said he was concerned that the board was not considering “meaty issues” about credit union regulation. “Let’s move the board forward,” he said.

Harper responded that he expects proposals governing cybersecurity, financial technology and a final rule governing which credit unions should be supervised by regional offices and which should be supervised by the Office of National Examinations and Supervision will be considered by the board in the coming months.