PRESS RELEASE

November 15, 2006

NCUA Releases Federal Credit Union Report; NASCUS State Data Collection Project Continues 

ARLINGTON, VA — Today, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) released the results of its Member Service Assessment Pilot (MSAP), an initiative prompted by information requests from the U.S. Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the federal credit union (FCU) system.

State regulators are working to complete a data collection project that will present information about state credit unions as requested by the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee. In a briefing between NASCUS and NCUA on the MSAP report, NASCUS communicated its appreciation for the collaboration between state and federal regulators as data collection efforts continue on the state level.

“NASCUS and state regulators remain committed to providing accurate and objective data about state credit unions to the United States Congress,” said NASCUS President and CEO Mary Martha Fortney. “NASCUS and state regulators are working diligently and cooperatively to ensure that the state credit union system is represented before Congress.”

State regulators are collecting information from a representative sample of state-chartered credit unions in the Committee’s four areas of inquiry: income characteristics of members, executive compensation, credit union service organizations (CUSOs) and unrelated business income tax (UBIT).

NASCUS and state regulators consider the project a valuable opportunity to further educate Congress about the importance of dual chartering and the differences between the state and federal credit union systems. The MSAP report recommends that the NCUA Board study the member services assessment results obtained by NASCUS’ survey of state-chartered credit unions and coordinate with NASCUS on appropriate follow-up items.

“NASCUS and state regulators look forward to delivering our report to Congress,” said Fortney. “We are pleased that that Committee came to NASCUS and state regulators as the authoritative voice on state-chartered credit union issues.”

Information Contact:
Kate Hartig, Director of Communications, (703) 528-0669 or kate@nascus.org

The NASCUS mission is to enhance state credit union supervision and advocate a safe and sound state credit union system. Founded in 1965, NASCUS represents all 48 state and territorial credit union supervisors. NASCUS is advised by the NASCUS Credit Union Advisory Council, which is made up of nearly 500 of the nation's more than 3,400 state-chartered credit unions.