CUNA urges NCUA board for more information

WASHINGTON (3/27/09)—The Credit Union National Association (CUNA), citing the urgings of every credit union that that has weighed in, is directly asking the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to provide information on analysis that lead to the agency's actions to conserve two corporate credit unions last week.

Specifically, CUNA placed its request in writing for information on the assumptions, analysis, and findings in a Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO) report and all data used in making the decisions on the conservatorships of U.S. Central FCU, Lenexa, Kan., and Western Corporate FCU, San Dimas, Calif.

CUNA, in its letter by President/CEO Dan Mica, reminded the three NCUA board members that the group has been seeking the information for "some time."

Alternatively, the Mica letter said, if the PIMCO information cannot be provided, CUNA requests the NCUA provide CUSIP numbers of all securities held by the corporate credit unions. CUNA said it intends to use the information to produce its own analysis to be used by the credit union system to evaluate loss at the corporates.

Noting that credit unions feel "concern, outrage, anger, and frustration" with the current situation, Mica wrote that the CUNA board of directors has directed CUNA to work in "every possible cooperative way to resolve these issues in an agreeable and acceptable manner for credit unions."

"Simply put, credit unions have lost confidence and trust in their regulator and feel that our request for additional data, information, communication, and cooperation is being ignored," Mica added.

CUNA is willing to go further to obtain the information credit unions desire if necessary, the federal regulators were told.

"(O)ur board has also directed me 'to take all necessary actions including Congressional hearings, direct contact with the administration, and up to including all possible legal remedies,' if we are not able to obtain the information credit unions are seeking," Mica said.

The NCUA has scheduled a special closed meeting for today on possible actions it might pursue, legislative as well as regulatory, to mitigate the costs to natural person credit unions of the agency's actions to stabilize the corporate credit union system.

NCUA's Corporate Stabilization Plan