12 CFR Part 741 - REQUIREMENTS FOR INSURANCE

The OCC, Board, FDIC, FHFA, NCUA, and SEC (the Agencies) are seeking comment on a joint proposed rule (the proposed rule) to revise the proposed rule the Agencies published in the Federal Register on April 14, 2011, and to implement section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 956 generally requires that the Agencies jointly issue regulations or guidelines: (1) Prohibiting incentive-based payment arrangements that the Agencies determine encourage inappropriate risks by certain financial institutions by providing excessive compensation or that could lead to material financial loss; and (2) requiring those financial institutions to disclose information concerning incentive-based compensation arrangements to the appropriate Federal regulator.

As part of NCUA's Regulatory Modernization Initiative, the NCUA Board (Board) is amending its member business loans (MBL) rule to provide federally insured credit unions with greater flexibility and individual autonomy in safely and soundly providing commercial and business loans to serve their members. The final amendments modernize the regulatory requirements that govern credit union commercial lending activities by replacing the current rule's prescriptive requirements and limitations—such as collateral and security requirements, equity requirements, and loan limits—with a broad principles-based regulatory approach. As such, the amendments also eliminate the current MBL waiver process, which is unnecessary under a principles-based rule.

The NCUA Board (Board) is amending its regulations to adjust the maximum amount of each civil monetary penalty (CMP) within its jurisdiction to account for inflation. This action, including the amount of the adjustments, is required under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996.

As part of NCUA's Regulatory Modernization Initiative, the NCUA Board (Board) proposes to amend its member business loans (MBL) rule to provide federally insured credit unions with greater flexibility and individual autonomy in safely and soundly providing commercial and business loans to serve their members. The proposed amendments would modernize the regulatory requirements that govern credit union commercial lending activities by replacing the current rule's prescriptive requirements and limitations—such as collateral and security requirements, equity requirements, and loan limits—with a broad principles-based regulatory approach. As such, the amendments would also eliminate the current MBL waiver process, which is unnecessary under a principles-based rule. The Board emphasizes that the proposed rule represents a change in regulatory approach and supervisory expectations for safe and sound lending would change accordingly. With adoption of a final rule, NCUA would publish updated supervisory guidance to examiners, which would be shared with credit unions, to provide more extensive discussion of expectations in relation to the revised rule.

The NCUA Board (Board) proposes to amend its regulations to clarify that a natural person federal credit union (FCU) is authorized to securitize loans that it has originated, as an activity incidental to the business for which an FCU is chartered, provided the transaction meets certain requirements. The proposed rule would also apply those requirements to federally insured, state-chartered credit unions (FISCUs) that are permitted by state law to securitize their assets.

This final rule permits credit unions to engage in limited derivatives activities for the purpose of mitigating interest rate risk. This rule applies only to Federal credit unions. The final rule addresses permissible derivatives and characteristics, limits on derivatives, operational requirements, counterparty and margining requirements, and the procedures a credit union must follow to apply for derivatives authority.

NCUA is issuing a final rule to amend its credit union service organization (CUSO) regulation to increase transparency and address certain safety and soundness concerns. The final rule expands the requirements of the CUSO regulation that apply to federally insured, state-chartered credit unions (FISCUs) to address accounting, financial statements, and audits. The final rule also includes limits on the ability of “less than adequately capitalized” FISCUs to recapitalize their CUSOs. In addition, it adds several new requirements that apply to both federal credit unions (FCUs) and FISCUs. Specifically, all CUSOs are required to annually provide basic profile information to NCUA and the appropriate state supervisory authority (SSA). CUSOs engaging in certain complex or high-risk activities are required to additionally report more detailed information, including audited financial statements and general customer information. The final rule also requires all subsidiary CUSOs to follow applicable laws and regulations.

The NCUA Board (Board) proposes to amend its regulations regarding filing financial, statistical, and other reports and credit union profiles by requiring all federally-insured credit unions (FICU) to file this information electronically using NCUA's information management system or other electronic means specified by NCUA. Under the current rule, FICUs are required to file this information online only if they have the capacity to do so.

On June 20, 2013, the NCUA Board (Board) approved, with a 30-day effective date, a final rule titled Loan Participations; Purchase, Sale and Pledge of Eligible Obligations; Purchase of Assets and Assumption of Liabilities, effective July 25, 2013. The Board extends the effective date for the final rule to September 23, 2013, to provide federally insured credit unions with additional time to prepare to comply with the final rule.

NCUA amends its loan participation rule, eligible obligations rule, and requirements for insurance rule to clarify how the loan participation rule is to be applied and how it relates to other rules. The amendments reorganize the loan participation rule and focus on the purchase side of loan participation transactions. The amendments make it easier to understand NCUA's regulatory requirements for loan participations. The amendments also expand loan participation requirements to federally insured, state-chartered credit unions (FISCUs).

This proposed rule permits credit unions to engage in limited derivatives activities for the purpose of mitigating interest rate risk. This proposed rule applies to federal credit unions and any federally insured, state-chartered credit unions that are permitted under applicable state law to engage in derivatives transactions. It requires any credit union seeking derivatives authority to submit an application for one of two levels of authority. Level I and Level II authority differ on the permissible levels of transactions as well as the application, expertise, and systems requirements associated with operating a derivatives program.

NCUA is issuing a final rule to implement certain statutory requirements in Title IX of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act) pertaining to the use of credit ratings to assess creditworthiness. The final rule removes references to credit ratings in NCUA regulations or replaces them with other appropriate standards of creditworthiness as required by the Dodd-Frank Act.

The NCUA Board (Board) proposes to amend Interpretive Ruling and Policy Statement (IRPS) 87-2, as amended by IRPS 03-2, and two NCUA regulations that apply asset thresholds to grant relief from risk-based net worth and interest rate risk requirements. The amended IRPS would result in more robust consideration of regulatory relief for more small credit unions in future rulemakings. The amended regulations would grant immediate and prospective relief from regulatory burden to a larger group of small credit unions.

NCUA proposes to amend the definition of “troubled condition” as that term appears in § 701.14 and elsewhere in NCUA's regulations. Generally, under the current definition, only a state supervisory authority (SSA) may declare a federally insured, state-chartered credit union (FISCU) to be in “troubled condition.” The proposal expands the definition to permit either NCUA or an SSA to declare a FISCU to be in “troubled condition.”

The NCUA Board (Board) is requesting public comment on a proposed regulation requiring federally insured credit unions (FICUs) with assets of $10 million or more to have a contingency funding plan that clearly sets out strategies for addressing liquidity shortfalls in emergency situations. The NPRM also requires FICUs with assets of $100 million or more to have access to a backup federal liquidity source for emergency situations. Finally, the NPRM requires FICUs with less than $10 million in assets to maintain a basic written policy that provides a board-approved framework for managing liquidity and a list of contingent liquidity sources that can be employed under adverse circumstances. The NPRM follows an earlier Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) requesting public comment on the scope and requirements of a regulation regarding backup liquidity requirements.

NCUA is amending its regulations to require federally insured credit unions (FICUs) to maintain written policies that address the management of loan workout arrangements and nonaccrual policies for loans, consistent with industry practice or Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) requirements. The final rule includes guidelines, set forth as an interpretive ruling and policy statement (IRPS) and incorporated as an appendix to the rule, that will assist FICUs in complying with the rule, including the regulatory reporting of troubled debt restructured loans (TDR loans or TDRs) in FICU Call Reports.

NCUA is issuing a final rule requiring Federally insured credit unions to develop and adopt a written policy on interest rate risk management and a program to effectively implement that policy, as part of their asset liability management responsibilities. The interest rate risk policy and implementation program will be among the factors NCUA will consider in determining a credit union's insurability. To assist credit unions, the final rule includes an appendix setting forth guidance on developing an interest rate risk policy and an effective implementation program based on generally recognized best practices for safely and soundly managing interest rate risk.