Offering support for NCUA charter modernization, additional FOM reform

America’s Credit Unions voiced strong support for the NCUA’s efforts to modernize its chartering process, highlighting ways to reduce burdens for new credit union organizers and offering to work with the agency and Congress on crafting legislative language that would codify the provisional charter pilot program.

In the letter, America’s Credit Unions Regulatory Advocacy Counsel John Vatian noted the charter modernization process, including the Proof-of-Concept form (PoC), is a “positive development that will help organizing groups enter the formal application process better prepared.”

“This approach should improve efficiency for both applicants and the NCUA staff by reducing back-and-forth correspondence and increasing the application quality,” he wrote.

Vatian recommended further steps to simplify applications, including a fill-in narrative template and toolkits to help organizers develop field of membership profiles and capital plans, saying these steps would “cut guesswork, rewrites, and back-and-forth without changing any standards.”

The letter also urged NCUA to continue prioritizing field-of-membership reform. Specifically, it called on the agency to modernize population limits for community charters by removing the current 2.5 million cap or raising it to 10 million, giving credit unions “the flexibility needed to serve larger, more dynamic communities.” 

Read the full letter