Notice2024-25568
The NCUA Staff Draft 2025-2026 Budget Justification
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 4, 2024
Issuing agencies
National Credit Union Administration
Abstract
The NCUA's staff draft "detailed business-type budget" is being made available for public review as required by Federal statute. The proposed resources will finance the agency's annual operations and capital projects, both of which are necessary for the agency to accomplish its mission of protecting the system of cooperative credit and its member-owners through effective chartering, supervision, regulation, and insurance. The briefing schedule and comment instructions are included in the supplementary information section.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 213 (Monday, November 4, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 213 (Monday, November 4, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87608-87650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25568]
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NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION
[NCUA-2024-0135]
The NCUA Staff Draft 2025-2026 Budget Justification
AGENCY: National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The NCUA's staff draft ``detailed business-type budget'' is
being made available for public review as required by Federal statute.
The proposed resources will finance the agency's annual operations and
capital projects, both of which are necessary for the agency to
accomplish its mission of protecting the system of cooperative credit
and its member-owners through effective chartering, supervision,
regulation, and insurance. The briefing schedule and comment
instructions are included in the supplementary information section.
DATES: Requests to deliver an in-person statement at the November 22,
2024, budget briefing must be received on or before November 13, 2024.
Written statements and presentations for those scheduled to appear at
the budget briefing must be received on or before 1 p.m. Eastern,
November 18, 2024.
Written comments may be submitted by November 27, 2024.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(please send comments by one method only):
<bullet> In-person presentation at public budget briefing: submit
requests to deliver a statement at the briefing to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1d5f68797a78695f6f74787b74737a5d737e687c337a726b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c381b6a7a4a6b781b1aaa6a5aaada483ada0b6a2eda4acb5">[email protected]</span></a> by November 13, 2024. Include your name, title,
affiliation, mailing address, email address, and telephone number. The
NCUA Board Secretary will inform you by November 14, 2024, if you have
been approved to make a presentation. In order to present at the public
meeting, you must submit a statement. Your statement must be submitted
to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#501225343735241222393536393e37103e3325317e373f26"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cf8dbaaba8aabb8dbda6aaa9a6a1a88fa1acbaaee1a8a0b9">[email protected]</span></a> by 1 p.m. Eastern, November 18, 2024. Your
presentation must be delivered in person at the public budget briefing.
You will be allotted five minutes during the budget briefing to deliver
your remarks.
<bullet> Written comments without an in-person presentation: submit
written comments by November 27, 2024, through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. The docket number is NCUA-2024-
0135. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Copies of the NCUA Draft 2025-2026 Budget Justification
and associated materials are also available on the NCUA website at
<a href="https://www.ncua.gov/About/Pages/budget-strategic-planning/supplementary-materials.aspx">https://www.ncua.gov/About/Pages/budget-strategic-planning/supplementary-materials.aspx</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eugene H. Schied, Chief Financial
Officer, National Credit Union Administration, 1775 Duke Street,
Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3428, or telephone: (703) 518-6571.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following itemized list details the
sections in this Notice made available for public review:
I. Introduction and Strategic Context
II. The NCUA Budget in Brief
III. Key Themes of the Proposed 2025-2026 Budget
IV. Operating Budget
V. Capital Budget
VI. Share Insurance Fund Administrative Budget
VII. Financing the NCUA's Programs
VIII. Appendix A: Supplemental Budget Information
IX. Appendix B: Capital Projects
X. Appendix C: Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
Section 212 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer
Protection Act amended 12 U.S.C. 1789(b)(1)(A) to require the NCUA
Board (Board) to ``on an annual basis and prior to the submission of
the detailed business-type budget make publicly available and publish
in the Federal Register a draft of the detailed business-type budget.''
Although 12 U.S.C. 1789(b)(1)(A) requires publication of a ``business-
type budget'' only for the agency operations arising under the Federal
Credit Union Act's subchapter on insurance activities, in the interest
of transparency the Board is providing the NCUA's entire staff draft
budget for 2025-2026 in this Notice.
The staff draft budget details the resources required to support
NCUA's mission. The staff draft budget includes personnel and dollar
estimates for three major budget components: (1) the Operating Budget;
(2) the Capital Budget; and (3) the Share Insurance Fund Administrative
Budget. The
[[Page 87609]]
resources proposed in the staff draft budget are to carry out the
agency's operations in 2025 and 2026. This document is a draft, staff-
level budget proposal made available to the NCUA Board members and the
public for their consideration and comment. The NCUA Board directed the
NCUA Executive Director to develop the staff draft budget under
delegated authority. The staff draft budget may change based on public
comments, Board member decisions, and staff's ongoing consideration of
estimates and programs that impact the budget.
The NCUA Chief Financial Officer will present the staff draft
budget at a budget briefing open to the public and scheduled for
Friday, November 22, 2024, at 10 a.m. eastern at the NCUA headquarters
building, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. Interested
parties unable to attend in person may visit the agency's homepage
(<a href="https://www.ncua.gov/">https://www.ncua.gov/</a>) to access the provided webcast link.
If you wish to participate in the briefing and deliver a statement,
you must email a request to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d597a0b1b2b0a197a7bcb0b3bcbbb295bbb6a0b4fbb2baa3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9cdee9f8fbf9e8deeef5f9faf5f2fbdcf2ffe9fdb2fbf3ea">[email protected]</span></a> by November 13,
2024. Your request must include your name, title, affiliation, mailing
address, email address, and telephone number. Statements must be
delivered in person at the briefing. The NCUA will work to accommodate
as many public statements as possible at the November 22, 2024, budget
briefing. The Board Secretary will inform you if you have been approved
to make a presentation and you will be allotted five minutes during the
budget briefing to deliver your remarks. A written copy of your
statement must be delivered to the Board Secretary by email at by 1
p.m. Eastern, November 18, 2024. In addition to delivering their
remarks at the budget briefing, registered presenters will be provided
the opportunity to ask questions of NCUA staff about the staff draft
budget. The initial round of questions will be limited to five minutes
per presenter, and one subsequent round of questions, limited to five
minutes per presenter, may be permitted by the Chairman if time allows.
Written comments on the staff draft budget will also be accepted by
November 27, 2024, through the Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. The docket number is NCUA-2024-0135. Commenters
should follow the portal instructions for submitting comments.
All comments should provide specific, actionable recommendations
about the staff draft budget rather than general remarks. The NCUA
Board will review and consider any comments from the public prior to
approving the NCUA 2025-2026 budget.
By the National Credit Union Administration Board on October 30,
2024.
Melane Conyers-Ausbrooks,
Secretary of the Board.
I. Introduction and Strategic Context
About the NCUA
Credit unions have provided financial services to their members for
more than 100 years. Credit unions are not-for-profit financial
cooperatives created to serve a membership with a common bond.
In 1970, the U.S. Congress established the NCUA as an independent
federal agency to regulate, charter, and supervise federal credit
unions. The NCUA operates and manages the National Credit Union Share
Insurance Fund (Share Insurance Fund) with the backing of the full
faith and credit of the United States, insuring the deposits of the
account holders in all federal credit unions and most state-chartered
credit unions.
As of June 30, 2024, the NCUA regulates and supervises 4,533
federally insured credit unions, which have approximately 141 million
members and more than $2.3 trillion in assets across all states and
U.S. territories.\1\
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\1\ Source: NCUA quarterly call report data, second quarter
2024.
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Statutory Authority
Pursuant to the Federal Credit Union Act, authority for NCUA
management is vested in the NCUA Board. The Board determines the
resources needed for carrying out the NCUA's responsibilities under the
Act.\2\ The Board is authorized to expend such funds and perform such
other functions or acts as it deems necessary or appropriate, per the
rules, regulations, or policies it establishes.\3\
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\2\ See 12 United States Code (U.S.C.) 1752a(a).
\3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1766(i)(2).
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Upon determination of the budgeted annual expenses for the agency's
operations, the Board determines a fee schedule to assess federal
credit unions. The Board considers federal credit unions' ability to
pay such a fee and the necessity of the expenses the NCUA will incur in
carrying out its responsibilities in connection with federal credit
unions.\4\ In December 2023, the Board approved a notice with changes
to its methodology for determining the operating fees due from federal
credit unions.\5\
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\4\ See 12 U.S.C. 1755(a)-(b).
\5\ See <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-28303">https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-28303</a>.
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Pursuant to the law, the NCUA deposits fees collected are deposited
in the agency's Operating Fund at the Treasury of the United States,
and those fees are expended by the Board to defray the cost of carrying
out the agency's operations, including the examination and supervision
of federal credit unions.\6\ Per its authority to use the Share
Insurance Fund to carry out its insurance-related responsibilities, the
Board approved an Overhead Transfer Rate (OTR) methodology and
authorized the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to transfer
resources from the Share Insurance Fund to the Operating Fund to
account for insurance-related expenses.\7\
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\6\ See 12 U.S.C. 1755(d).
\7\ See 12 U.S.C. 1783(a).
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Mission, Goals, and Strategy
The proposed budget for 2025-2026 supports the NCUA's fourth year
implementing its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. Throughout 2025 and 2026,
the agency will continue fulfilling its mission of ``protecting the
system of cooperative credit and its member-owners through effective
chartering, supervision, regulation, and insurance.'' The agency's
three strategic goals are:
<bullet> Ensure a safe, sound, and viable system of cooperative
credit that protects consumers.
<bullet> Improve the financial well-being of individuals and
communities through access to affordable and equitable financial
products and services.
<bullet> Maximize organizational performance to enable mission
success.
The NCUA's strategic plan is the foundation for the agency's
performance management and resource allocation processes. The annual
performance plan functions as the agency's operational plan for each
calendar year. It outlines the annual or short-term objectives,
strategies, and corresponding performance goals and activities that
contribute to the accomplishment of the agency's strategic goals. The
NCUA budget provides the resources necessary for the agency to
implement its strategic priorities and related programs and activities,
to identify key challenges facing the credit union industry, and to
leverage agency strengths to help credit unions address those
challenges.
Appendix A provides additional information about how the budget
aligns to the NCUA's strategic goals.
The NCUA's Annual Budget Process
Each regional and central office director at the NCUA develops an
initial budget request identifying the resources necessary for their
office to support the agency's mission, goals, and objectives. These
budgets are developed to ensure
[[Page 87610]]
requirements are individually justified and remain consistent with the
agency's overall strategic framework. This effort also includes a
field-level review of every federally insured credit union to estimate
the workload to carry out credit union examinations in the forthcoming
year, which is translated into the cost of the staff and associated
expenses necessary to meet the agency's safety and soundness goals. In
addition to this workload analysis, each NCUA office estimates its
fixed and recurring expenses, such as for employee travel, rental
payments for leased property, operations and maintenance for owned
facilities or equipment, supplies, telecommunications services, major
capital investments, and other administrative and contracted services
costs.
The Office of the Chief Financial Officer presents draft budgets to
the public on the agency's website and in the Federal Register as part
of the NCUA Board's commitment to transparency in the agency's
budgeting processes. The Board also holds a public briefing about the
draft budget and facilitates dialog between public stakeholders and
NCUA staff to develop a common understanding of the agency's resource
needs. The NCUA is the only Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery,
and Enforcement Act agency that releases such a detailed draft budget
and solicits public comments on it.
The NCUA Board reviews the comments from the public about the draft
budget and makes revisions in response to stakeholder views, individual
Board office priorities, and changing economic conditions. The Board
then approves the final budget levels and the associated OTR and the
operating fees paid by credit unions to finance the agency's programs.
II. The NCUA Budget in Brief
Proposed 2025 and 2026 Budgets
The NCUA 2022-2026 Strategic Plan sets forth the agency's goals and
objectives that drive the agency's resource needs and allocations. The
agency's annual budgets provide the resources to execute the strategic
plan, to implement important initiatives, and to undertake the NCUA's
major programs: examination and supervision, insurance, credit union
development, consumer financial protection, and asset management.\8\
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\8\ Budget information presented in this document excludes
funding for the CLF, which has its own budget reviewed and decided
upon separately by the CLF Board.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.017
The NCUA's 2025-2026 staff draft budget justification includes
three separate budgets: the Operating Budget, the Capital Budget, and
the Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses Budget. Combined,
these three budgets total $433.0 million for 2025, which is $0.3
million lower than the $433.3 million 2025 funding level approved by
the NCUA Board as part of the two-year 2024-2025 budget.
Three significant factors, when combined, account for most of the
12.2 percent increase in the total budget between 2024 and 2025:
1. An increase of $25.9 million in funding for contracted services
for 2025 compared to 2024. Of this amount, approximately $18.0 million
results from a lower 2024 surplus carried over as part of the 2025
budget when compared to the surplus carried over from 2023 as part of
the 2024 budget. Of the residual $7.9 million increase for contracted
services, much of the additional funding will address new and evolving
operational risks such as cybersecurity threats and for tools used to
identify and resolve credit union system risk concerns such as interest
rate risk, credit risk, and industry concentration risk. Growth in the
contracted services budget category also results from new operations
and maintenance costs for recently delivered capital investments. Other
increased costs include general price inflation for core agency
business operation systems such as accounting and payroll processing
and various other recurring support costs.
2. An increase of $19.5 million for current employee compensation
in 2025 compared to 2024. This increase accounts for merit pay raises
for the NCUA's employees as required by the Collective Bargaining
Agreement and expected inflationary cost increases for employee
benefits.
3. A proposed increase of 14 positions compared to 2024, which
equates to a headcount increase of 10 positions and four positions
approved by the NCUA Board in the 2024 budget for 2025. Of
[[Page 87611]]
the 10 positions recommended in the staff draft budget, eight are new
positions and the remaining two are existing positions currently
unfunded in the 2024 budget.\9\ Explanations for each of the proposed
new positions are included later in this document.
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\9\ These positions are also known as ``overhire'' positions and
are funded by surplus pay and benefits budgets that result from
vacancies.
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Proposed 2025 Operating Budget: $419.3 Million
The following chart presents the major categories of spending
supported by the proposed 2025 Operating Budget.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.018
As shown in the following chart, the relative size of the NCUA
budget (dotted line) has generally decreased when compared to balance
sheets at federally insured credit unions (FICU, solid line).
BILLING CODE 7535-01-P
[[Page 87612]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.019
Proposed 2026 Operating Budget: $450.6 Million
The Operating Budget estimate for 2026 is $450.6 million and
includes 11 additional positions compared to the 2025 level.
[[Page 87613]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.020
[[Page 87614]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.021
BILLING CODE 7535-01-C
Proposed 2025 Capital Budget: $8.2 Million
The proposed 2025 Capital Budget is $2.0 million higher than the
2024 Board-approved budget.
The Capital Budget supports the NCUA's ongoing effort to modernize
its IT infrastructure and applications. Funding in the Capital Budget
for upgrades to or replacement of obsolete IT systems is higher in 2025
than in 2024 and includes an increase in capital investment for
cyclical system updates to the Modern Examination and Risk
Identification Tool (MERIT) examination system. Other IT investments in
the proposed 2025 Capital Budget include funds to ensure that agency
systems comply with evolving cybersecurity requirements required of all
federal agencies, enhancements to agency information security,
investments to begin transitioning legacy hardware to a cloud-based
storage environment, and various hardware investments to refresh agency
networks and ensure staff have the tools necessary to achieve the
agency's mission.
The Capital Budget also includes $480,000 for NCUA facility
maintenance and improvements.
Proposed 2025 Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses: $5.5
Million
The proposed 2025 Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses
Budget is $0.4 million higher than the 2024 Board-approved budget. The
Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses Budget funds the tools and
technology used by the Office of National Examinations and Supervision
(ONES) to oversee credit union-run stress testing for the largest
credit unions, travel for state examiners attending NCUA-sponsored
training, audit support for the Share Insurance Fund's financial
statements, and certain insurance-related expenses for Asset
[[Page 87615]]
Management and Assistance Center (AMAC) operations.
III. Key Themes of the Proposed 2025-2026 Budget
Overview
The proposed 2025-2026 budget includes funding for the NCUA to
increase staffing in critical areas necessary to operate as an
effective federal financial regulator capable of addressing emerging
issues and responding to changes in economic conditions that may impact
the credit union system.
The percentage of insured shares in credit unions with composite
Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity risk,
and Sensitivity to market risk (CAMELS) ratings 1 and 2 has decreased
each quarter since December 2021.\10\ Between the reporting periods of
December 31, 2021, and June 30, 2024, credit unions with composite
CAMELS 4 and 5 ratings and total assets greater than $500 million
increased from 2 to 9, while these credit unions' insured shares
increased from $4.4 billion to $13.8 billion--an increase of 214
percent. During the same period, credit unions with composite CAMELS 3
ratings and assets greater than $500 million increased from 15 to 66,
and their insured shares increased from $11.3 billion to $127.0
billion--an increase of 1,024 percent. Under the agency's rules, credit
unions with total assets greater than $500 million are considered
complex. Liquidations of such complex credit unions would cause greater
losses for the Share Insurance Fund than non-complex credit unions.
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\10\ The NCUA's composite CAMELS rating consists of an
assessment of a credit union's Capital adequacy, Asset quality,
Management, Earnings, Liquidity risk, and Sensitivity to market
risk. The CAMELS rating system is designed to consider and reflect
all significant financial, operational and management factors field
staff assess in their valuation of credit unions' performance and
risk profiles. CAMELS ratings range from 1 to 5, with 1 being the
best rating. Credit unions with a composite CAMELS rating of 3
exhibit some degree of supervisory concern in one or more
components. CAMELS 4 credit unions generally exhibit unsafe or
unsound practices, and CAMELS 5 institutions demonstrate extremely
unsafe or unsound practices and conditions. The NCUA collectively
refers to CAMELS 4 and 5 credit unions as ``troubled credit
unions.''
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The NCUA must have the necessary resources to continue to monitor
credit union performance and mitigate risks at these complex credit
unions and all other non-complex credit unions through the examination
process, offsite monitoring, and tailored supervision, consistent with
its mission.
The NCUA employees are the agency's most valuable resource for
achieving its mission. The agency is committed to maintaining a
workforce with integrity, accountability, transparency, inclusion, and
proficiency.\11\ The NCUA will continue investing in its workforce
through training and development, ensuring employees have the skills
they need to work effectively. These investments will also facilitate
the agency's succession planning as it undertakes a generational
leadership shift as the Baby Boom cohort retires.
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\11\ See <a href="https://ncua.gov/files/agenda-items/strategic-plan-20220317.pdf">https://ncua.gov/files/agenda-items/strategic-plan-20220317.pdf</a>, page 6.
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The proposed 2025-2026 budget includes investments across a range
of NCUA priorities, including:
<bullet> Ensuring robust cybersecurity in the credit union system
and at the agency.
<bullet> Continuing to strengthen and mature analytic capabilities
and capacity in the areas of fraud and anti-money laundering,
quantitative analytics and stress testing, and climate-related
financial risk.
<bullet> Recalibrating examination and supervisory oversight over
credit unions based on a prioritization of the risks presented to the
system.
<bullet> Providing program and staff resources to increase
assistance to small credit unions and credit unions designated as
minority depository institutions (MDIs).
<bullet> Expanding the resources allocated to the NCUA's
examination of credit unions' compliance with consumer financial
protection laws and regulations.
<bullet> Investing in information technology systems and
infrastructure to bolster the NCUA's supervisory capabilities.
The efficiency and effectiveness of the agency's workforce depends
upon the availability of modern analytical tools and the resiliency of
the NCUA's information technology systems. The NCUA is committed to
implementing its new technology responsibly and delivering secure,
reliable, and innovative solutions. The investments funded in the
NCUA's Capital Budget will provide the tools and technology the
workforce needs to achieve the NCUA mission.
Cybersecurity
The NCUA's cybersecurity program focuses on two main efforts:
supervision of credit union cybersecurity programs and protection of
the agency's systems, assets, data, and mission capabilities.
Cyberattacks continue to pose significant and growing risks to all
organizations. The NCUA places credit union cybersecurity as a top
enterprise and supervisory priority because of continued attacks on the
nation's financial sector and the broader national critical
infrastructure.
Supervision of Credit Union Cybersecurity
The NCUA engages in interagency cybersecurity preparedness as a
member of the FFIEC and of the Financial and Banking Information
Infrastructure Committee. The NCUA monitors cyber threats identified by
federal and non-federal sources and shares relevant information about
them with the credit union industry and financial sector partners.
The NCUA maintains a team within the Office of Examination and
Insurance dedicated to developing and maintaining supervisory policies,
procedures, and tools and examiner training for cybersecurity. The
regions and the ONES employ highly trained regional information
security specialists for information security examinations and
supervision of credit unions.
All credit unions will periodically receive an information security
examination as part of the agency's new Information Security
Examination program (ISE). The ISE uses a risk-focused approach to
examine credit unions' information security, providing examiners
flexibility to focus on areas of material current or potential risk
relevant to each credit union's unique business model. The objectives
of an information security examination include:
<bullet> Evaluating management's ability to recognize, assess,
monitor, and manage information systems and technology-related risks.
<bullet> Assessing whether the credit union has sufficient
expertise to adequately plan, direct, and manage information systems
and technology operations.
<bullet> Determining whether the board of directors has adopted and
implemented adequate information systems and technology-related
policies and procedures.\12\
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\12\ See <a href="https://ncua.gov/regulation-supervision/letters-credit-unions-other-guidance/board-director-engagement-cybersecurity-oversight">https://ncua.gov/regulation-supervision/letters-credit-unions-other-guidance/board-director-engagement-cybersecurity-oversight</a>.
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<bullet> Evaluating the adequacy of internal information systems
and technology controls and oversight to safeguard member information.
The NCUA built and maintains the Automated Cybersecurity Evaluation
Toolbox (ACET) to help credit unions voluntarily assess their level of
cybersecurity preparedness. The tool incorporates appropriate
cybersecurity standards and practices established for financial
institutions. The tool maps each of its declarative statements to the
[[Page 87616]]
practices found in the FFIEC Information Technology Examination
Handbook, regulatory guidance, and leading industry standards like the
National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Cybersecurity
Framework. The ACET also provides a plain-language explanation and
references for each of the statements included within the assessment.
Enhanced and continuing examiner training related to information
security and evolving cyber risks is planned for 2025.
Protection of the Agency's Information and Systems
The NCUA's approach to agency cybersecurity is based on
requirements established by federal statute such as the Federal
Information Security Management and Federal Information Security
Modernization Act (FISMA), and government-wide policy such as the
NIST's Cybersecurity Framework, and Executive Order (E.O.) 14028,
Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity. Based upon the most recent FISMA
reporting metrics, the NCUA earned a Level 4 maturity rating for its
information security program. This is the highest rating the NCUA has
earned to date and demonstrates the agency's commitment a strong
cybersecurity posture that mitigates risk and protects sensitive data.
The proposed 2025 budget includes over $22 million for the cost of
compliance with and implementation of these requirements, of which $3.2
million is budgeted for capital investments. Many government
cybersecurity requirements are not necessarily expected of non-
governmental entities; however, as a federal agency the NCUA must carry
them out.
Examination Workforce
In 2021, a cross-agency working group at the NCUA conducted an
internal review to determine the appropriate level of specialist
positions required to ensure compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)
and consumer financial protection laws and regulations. The review
evaluated staffing needs for three potential regional specialist groups
in the areas of electronic payment systems, consumer compliance, and
the BSA. Unlike other specialist areas where credit union asset size is
a reasonable basis for allocating supervisory resources, BSA and
consumer compliance risks are not necessarily concentrated in a
particular asset group.
Since this review, the NCUA added specialist positions to each of
the regions in two separate phases. These new specialist positions were
offset by a reduction in general examiner positions throughout the
regions. These positions are now fully annualized in the 2025 budget
and no new specialist positions are proposed in the 2025 budget. The
proposed 2025 budget recommends a net reduction of 10 positions across
the NCUA's three regions. The draft budget is based on certain
adjustments to the examination program that result in a net decrease in
the staff time required to carry out the examination program. These
changes would provide incentives for federally insured credit unions
with assets between $1 billion and $10 billion to remain very sound. In
return, sound practices at credit unions would allow the regions more
flexibility to work with state regulators on coordinating joint
examinations and reduce the time between exams for certain federal
credit unions whose practices and management necessitate closer
scrutiny. These changes would also result in a further cycle-time
extension between exams for well-managed and well-capitalized smaller
and mid-sized credit unions.
Support for Small Credit Unions and Minority Depository Institutions
Small credit unions with less than $100 million in assets and MDIs
are uniquely positioned to improve financial inclusion by offering
their communities access to safe, fair, and affordable credit and other
services. The NCUA's Small Credit Union and MDI Support Program is
designed to support and preserve these credit unions. This program
provides dedicated resource hours for field staff to conduct this
important work, and the proposed 2025 budget continues to support this
important effort.
Program assistance focuses on identifying available resources,
providing training and guidance, and supporting credit union management
in their efforts to address operational matters. Additional benefits of
the program include:
<bullet> Building greater awareness of the unique needs of small
credit unions and MDIs and their role serving underserved communities.
<bullet> Expanding opportunities for these credit unions to receive
support through NCUA grants, training, and other initiatives.
<bullet> Furthering partnerships with organizations and industry
mentors that can support small credit unions and MDIs.
Fair Lending and Consumer Financial Protection
The NCUA's consumer financial protection program supports the
agency's statutory responsibility and strategic goal of ensuring a
safe, sound, and viable system of cooperative credit that protects
consumers. Within the division of fair lending supervision, NCUA staff
conduct targeted fair lending examinations at federal credit unions to
assess compliance with federal fair lending laws and regulations. These
reviews are critical to identifying discriminatory lending patterns or
practices and to reducing barriers to economic equity. Past
examinations conducted by NCUA examiners have identified patterns or
practices of discrimination violations, illegal race-based redlining,
indirect lending pricing concerns, systemic Home Mortgage Disclosure
Act violations, Regulation B notification and government monitoring
information violations, and numerous instances of inadequate fair
lending compliance management systems, including those related to
discrimination based on age and marital status.
In 2024, the NCUA joined the other Federal Financial Institution
Examination Council agencies to issue a statement of examination
principles related to valuation discrimination and bias in residential
real estate lending. The staff draft budget includes funding for the
current division of fair lending supervision and for one new program
officer who will help to develop Home Mortgage Disclosure Act analyses
and examinations, oversee the annual fair lending examination selection
process through outlier analysis, and fulfill fair lending speaking and
Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by the public.
The agency is also engaged in a project to develop an expanded
consumer compliance examination and enforcement program. That project
will develop and be implemented over the course of several years.
Chartering Investments
Credit unions are an important part of the financial services
industry and can play a key role in helping families achieve financial
freedom by building generational wealth, aiding entrepreneurs in
starting a business, and helping to create jobs and strengthen
communities. To extend financial services to more individuals and
communities, the 2025 capital budget supports a multi-year process
automation project to implement an external facing portal that will
make it
[[Page 87617]]
easier for organizing groups to submit new charter applications. When
this project is complete, organizing groups will be able to upload
forms and supporting files and track the status of their submissions
through an intuitive, user-friendly interface, significantly reducing
the time to process these requests.
IT Enhancements: MERIT and Cloud Migration
Two information technology investments in the 2025 budget support
efforts to create cost efficiencies and avoid cost escalation in future
years.
The NCUA recompeted the operations and maintenance contract for
NCUA's examination platform in 2024. The new contract reduced the
estimated cost of core MERIT Operations and Maintenance (O&M) support
activities by $1.7 million for the 2025 operating budget when compared
to the cost of the previous support vendor.
Migrating to a cloud computing environment offers significant
advantages by enhancing efficiencies and improving security. By moving
IT services from physical datacenters to cloud service providers, the
NCUA can lower the risk and expense of maintaining physical
infrastructure such as servers, storage, and networking equipment.
Cloud infrastructure also enables faster and more efficient deployment
of new services and system upgrades. This scalability leads to greater
operational flexibility, reducing the time and cost of managing
information technology operations. Furthermore, cloud service providers
offer advanced cybersecurity measures, ensuring that data is protected
with the latest encryption and security standards, enhancing the
reliability and security of the NCUA's information technology
environment. By leveraging cloud services, the NCUA can focus its
resources on innovation and mission-critical tasks, rather than on
costly and resource-intensive management of physical infrastructure.
NCUA Organizational Changes
The staff draft budget proposes a new Office of the Executive
Secretary, which is a common function in many other federal agencies.
The new office will centralize responsibility for the NCUA's policy
review and decision-making processes, coordinate the clearance and
submission of all policy documents to the Chairman and the NCUA Board,
as appropriate, for review and approval, and facilitate discussions
between the NCUA's program offices to align appropriate policies, among
other things. Policy documents include regulations, recommendation
memos, action memos, briefing memos, responses to correspondence,
reports to Congress, and other policy documents. Appendix A includes a
separate table illustrating the budget for the proposed Office of the
Executive Secretary.
IV. Operating Budget
Overview
The NCUA Operating Budget provides the resources required for the
agency to conduct activities prescribed by the Federal Credit Union
Act. These mandates include: (1) chartering new federal credit unions;
(2) approving field of membership applications of federal credit
unions; (3) promulgating regulations and providing guidance; (4)
performing regulatory compliance and safety and soundness examinations;
(5) implementing and administering enforcement actions, such as
prohibition orders, orders to cease and desist, orders of
conservatorship and orders of liquidation; and (6) administering the
Share Insurance Fund. The NCUA must also implement mandates required by
other statutes including those related to BSA compliance, consumer
financial protection, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Operating Budget Categories
There are five major expenditure categories in the Operating
Budget. This section explains how these expenditures support the NCUA's
operations and presents an overview of the Operating Budget.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.022
Pay and Benefits. Pay and benefits increase by $19.5 million in
2025, or 6.7 percent compared to 2024, for a total of $312.3 million.
Pay and benefits costs make up approximately 74.5 percent of the annual
NCUA Operating Budget. There are four primary drivers of increased
costs in 2025 for the pay and benefits category:
<bullet> Merit and locality pay increases for the NCUA's employees
are paid per the agency's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and its
merit-based pay system.
<bullet> Contributions for employee retirement to the Federal
Employee Retirement System (FERS), which are set by the U.S. Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) based on actuarial estimates and cannot be
negotiated or changed by the NCUA. The mandatory FERS contribution rate
increases total NCUA benefits costs by 2.7 percent in 2025 compared to
2024. OPM's current assumptions for actuarial valuation of FERS remain
unchanged in 2025 but remain a cost driver for the agency's pay and
benefits growth. Because the NCUA must contribute 18.4 percent of
[[Page 87618]]
employee salaries to the retirement fund in 2025, the estimated impact
on the NCUA budget is an increase of approximately $2.5 million in
mandatory payments.
<bullet> Contributions for employee health insurance are also set
by OPM. This insurance contribution increases total NCUA benefits costs
by 1.3 percent in 2025 compared to 2024. The annual OPM estimate for
the 2025 government share of the Federal Employees Health Benefits
Program (FEHBP) premiums is expected to be released in October 2024,
and the budget will be updated if there are material changes to FEHBP
costs estimates.
<bullet> The employee salary and benefits category includes costs
associated with other mandatory employer contributions such as Social
Security, Medicare, transportation subsidies, unemployment, and
workers' compensation. The limit on employee earnings subject to Social
Security taxes increased in 2025 and applies to all employers in the
United States. The projected additional employer Social Security
contributions that result from this increase account for approximately
one percent of the total adjustment to employee salaries.
Attracting a well-qualified workforce requires the agency to pay
competitive salaries. In 2025, the NCUA's compensation levels will
continue to ``maintain comparability with other federal bank regulatory
agencies'' as required by the Federal Credit Union Act.\13\ More than
85 percent of the NCUA workforce has earned a bachelor's degree or
higher, compared to approximately 35 percent of the private-sector
workforce.
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\13\ The Federal Credit Union Act states that, ``In setting and
adjusting the total amount of compensation and benefits for
employees of the Board, the Board shall seek to maintain
comparability with other federal bank regulatory agencies.'' See 12
U.S.C. 1766(j)(2).
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The pay and benefits budget includes all employee pay raises for
2025, such as merit and locality increases consistent with the CBA in
place for 2024, and those for promotions, reassignments, and other
changes, as described below. Consistent with other federal pay systems,
the NCUA's compensation includes base pay and locality pay components.
The proposed 2025 Operating Budget supports a total agency staffing
level of 1,261 positions.\14\ This is a net increase of 14 positions,
or 1.1 percent, compared to the agency's 2024 staffing level. The net
increase includes 12 new positions, four of which were approved by the
NCUA Board in the 2024 budget for 2025 and incorporates into the 2025
budget two existing positions currently unfunded in the 2024 budget.
The first-year cost of the 12 net new positions for 2025 is estimated
to be approximately $1.9 million. The cost for 2025 of the two existing
positions currently unfunded is estimated to be approximately $0.7
million.
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\14\ Does not include five positions assigned to the CLF.
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The proposed 2025-2026 draft budget includes funding for the NCUA
to increase permanent staffing in critical areas necessary to operate
more effectively and address emerging risks. The staffing levels
proposed for 2025 also reflect the resource requirements that support
the NCUA's continued efforts to ensure its examination processes keep
pace with the growing scale and complexity of the credit union system
while the agency enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of its
supervisory efforts.
The following chart illustrates the NCUA's staffing levels in
recent years.
BILLING CODE 7535-01-P
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.023
[[Page 87619]]
BILLING CODE 7535-01-C
The proposed changes for the NCUA's 2025 staffing level include:
<bullet> Reducing the number of generalist examiners by a net of
eight positions across the NCUA's three regional offices, including the
reduction of one supervisory examiner.
<bullet> Adding two new Division of Supervision Director positions
(one each in the Eastern and Western regions) while simultaneously
reducing the number of regional Division of Supervision Deputy Director
positions by four positions. The net change in regional staff is a
reduction of two positions.
<bullet> Creating a new Office of the Executive Secretary with two
dedicated staff positions authorized for 2025 and a third position for
2026. This office will centralize responsibility for coordinating the
review of documents, related decision-making processes, and the
clearance and submission of all documents to the NCUA Board members, as
appropriate.
<bullet> Increasing ONES by three positions. The three new
positions include a supervisor for the capital planning and stress
testing division, a financial data analyst, and a new executive
position to lead the financial risk management team. Additionally,
three positions are recommended for 2026: one national credit union
examiner, one national lending specialist, and one national payment
systems officer.
<bullet> Increasing the Office of Business Innovation by two
positions. The new positions include one artificial intelligence (AI)
officer and one business innovation officer. Additionally, two new AI
officers are recommended for 2026.
<bullet> Adding one new senior Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
specialist in the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.
<bullet> Increasing the Office of Consumer Financial Protection
(OCFP) by three positions. The new positions include one consumer
affairs specialist, one fair lending program officer, and a new
division director in 2025.
<bullet> Increasing the Office of Examination and Insurance by
three positions. The new positions include two new fraud officers and
one climate financial risk officer in 2025. Additionally, one new
systems officer is recommended for 2026.
<bullet> Increasing the Office of External Affairs and
Communications by three positions. The new positions include one
section 508 compliance manager and two division directors in 2025.
Additionally, two new positions are recommended for 2026. These include
one technical writer/editor and one stakeholder relations specialist.
<bullet> Funding two positions previously unfunded but authorized
within the total NCUA staffing plan. These positions are both within
the Office of Human Resources.
The proposed 2026 budget for pay and benefits is estimated at
$329.2 million, a $16.9 million increase from the 2025 level. Included
within this total is the full-year cost impact of new positions
proposed for 2025 (approximately $4 million), $1.6 million for 11 new
positions (three in ONES, two in the Office of Business Innovation, two
in the Office of General Counsel, two in the Office of External Affairs
and Communications, one in the Office of the Executive Secretary, and
one in the Office of Examination and Insurance). The 2026 budget for
pay and benefits also includes projected merit and locality pay
increases consistent with recent compensation agreements (approximately
$8.8 million), and associated increases in benefits for all employees
(approximately $2.5 million).
Travel. The proposed travel budget increases by $2.1 million, or
10.5 percent, compared to 2024, for a total of $22.1 million. The
travel cost category includes expenses for employees' airfare, lodging,
meals, auto rentals, reimbursements for privately owned vehicle usage,
and other travel-related expenses. These are necessary expenses for
examiners' onsite work in credit unions. Close to two-thirds of the
NCUA's workforce is comprised of field staff who spend part of their
time traveling to conduct the examination and supervision program. The
NCUA staff also travel for routine and specialized training and other
work assignments.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCUA and its employees
transitioned to an offsite examination posture, developing new
procedures and processes to continue examination and supervisory work.
In 2025, the NCUA will continue to conduct portions of examinations
offsite, which is expected to constrain the growth of future travel
budgets. Nevertheless, per trip costs have increased in recent years
due to price inflation across the U.S. economy. Despite the projected
growth in travel expenses for 2025, the total budget for travel is
approximately $4.7 million, or 17.4 percent, below the pre-pandemic
2019 travel budget of $26.8 million.
The proposed 2026 budget for travel is estimated at $24.2 million,
a 9.5 percent increase compared to the 2025 level. This budget level
reflects an expectation for continued travel-related cost inflation and
travel to support a national training conference planned for 2026.
Rent, Communications, and Utilities. The proposed budget for rent,
communications, and utilities decreases by $0.3 million in 2025, or 4.3
percent compared to 2024, for a budget of $6.8 million. The 2025
decrease is largely driven by a one-time reduction in the first-year
rent for the new Southern Region office lease.
Funding within this budget category pays for facilities-related
costs, telecommunications services, data storage, and information
technology network support. Telecommunications charges include leased
data lines and data service subscriptions, Voice over Internet Protocol
and mobile telephony, and other network charges. Facilities-related
budgets pay for the cost of the office leases, utilities, rental of the
disaster recovery and continuity of operations sites, meeting space
rental for offsite events, and postage.
The proposed 2026 budget for the rent, communications, and
utilities category is $7.9 million, or a 15.4 percent increase compared
to 2025. The full, second-year cost of the Southern Region office lease
is the primary driver for this increase.
Administrative Expenses. The draft budget proposes a $2.4 million
decrease in administrative expenses for 2025, which is a reduction of
31.8 percent compared to 2024, for a budget of $5.1 million. The 2025
decrease is driven almost entirely by reclassifying the $2.4 million
Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council costs from this
budget category to the contracted services budget category, which more
accurately captures the nature of this spending.
Recurring costs in the administrative expenses category include
employee relocation expenses, recruitment and advertising expenses,
shipping, printing, subscriptions, examiner training and meeting
supplies, office furniture, and employee supplies and materials. The
NCUA pays relocation costs to employees who are competitively selected
for a promotion or new job within the agency in a different geographic
area than where they live.
The proposed 2026 budget for administrative expenses is $5.9
million, an increase of $0.8 million, or 14.7 percent increase from the
level proposed in the 2025 budget. The costs associated with a planned
agency-wide National Training Conference is the major contributor to
the budget increase.
Contracted Services. The proposed budget for contracted services
increases by $25.9 million in 2025, or 55.1
[[Page 87620]]
percent compared to 2024, for a total budget of $73.0 million.\15\ A
significant portion of the growth in this budget results from the
assumption that approximately $18.0 million in 2024 contracted services
funded by carryover budget surplus from previous years will not be
available for 2025. Since 2021, the NCUA has used unspent budget
amounts from previous years to reduce its budget levels in the
following year.
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\15\ The total budget for Contracted Services in 2025 before
offsets of prior year unspent funds is estimated to be $78.0
million.
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The remaining $7.9 million of budgetary growth is driven by a
combination of factors, including operations and maintenance costs for
newly delivered capital projects, inflationary cost increases for
contracted services, and additional analytic and operational tools
necessary to address cybersecurity threats and growing complexity and
risk in the credit union system.
Acquiring specific expertise or services from contract providers is
often the most cost-effective way for the NCUA to accomplish its
mission. Such services include critical mission support such as
information technology equipment and software development, accounting
and auditing services, and specialized subject matter expertise that
enable staff to focus on executing core mission requirements. Most of
the funding in the contracted services category supports the NCUA's
supervision framework, including tools used to identify and address
risk concerns such as interest rate risk, credit risk, and industry
concentration risk.
Growth in the contracted services budget category also results from
new operations and maintenance costs for deployed capital investment
projects. Other costs include core NCUA business operation systems such
as accounting and payroll processing, and various recurring costs, as
described in the following seven major categories:
<bullet> Information Technology Operations and Maintenance (44.9
percent of contracted services)
--IT network support services and help desk support
--Contractor program and web support and network and equipment
maintenance services
--Administration of software products such as Microsoft Office,
SharePoint, and audio-visual services
<bullet> Administrative Support and Other Services (22.2 percent of
contracted services)
--Examination and supervision program support
--Technical support for examination and cybersecurity training
programs
--Equipment maintenance services
--Legal services and other expert consulting support
--FFIEC reimbursements
<bullet> IT Security (14.2 percent of contracted services)
--Secure data storage and operations
--Information security programs
--Security system assessment services
<bullet> Accounting, Procurement, Payroll, and Human Resources Systems
(5.2 percent of contracted services)
--Accounting and procurement systems and support
--Human resources, payroll, and employee services
--EEO and diversity programs
<bullet> Training (5.0 percent of contracted services)
--Technical and specialized training and professional development
for staff
<bullet> Audit and Financial Management Support (4.6 percent of
contracted services)
--Annual audit support services
--Material loss reviews
--Investigation support services
--Financial management support services
<bullet> Building Operations, Maintenance, and Security (3.9 percent of
contracted services)
--Headquarters facility operations and maintenance
--Building security and continuity programs
--Personnel security and administrative programs
The following chart illustrates the breakout of the seven
categories for the total proposed 2025 contracted services budget of
$78.0 million, of which $5.0 million is funded from prior year
available balances.
[[Page 87621]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.024
Major programs within the contracted services category include:
<bullet> Training requirements for the examiner workforce. The
NCUA's most important resource is its highly educated, experienced, and
skilled workforce. Staff must have the proper knowledge, skills, and
abilities to perform assigned duties and meet emerging needs. Each
year, examiners complete a wide range of training classes to ensure
their skills and industry knowledge remain current, including in core
areas such as capital markets, consumer compliance, and specialized
lending. Major training deliverables for 2025 include examiner training
development, including subject matter expert conferences, and planned
leadership forums for all the NCUA's executives and managers. The NCUA
continues to control training costs with a blended schedule of both in-
person and virtual sessions.
<bullet> Information security program. This NCUA program supports
ongoing efforts to strengthen the agency's cybersecurity and ensure its
compliance with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act and
other standards for federal agencies.
<bullet> Agency financial management services, human resources
technology support, and payroll services. The NCUA contracts for these
back-office support services with the U.S. Department of
Transportation's Enterprise Service Center and the General Services
Administration. The NCUA's human resource system, also adopted by other
federal agencies, is a shared solution that automates routine human
resource tasks and improves time and attendance functionality.
<bullet> Audit. The NCUA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
contracts with an accounting firm to conduct the annual audit of the
agency's four permanent funds. The results of these audits are posted
annually on the NCUA website and included as part of the agency's
Annual Report.
A significant share of the budget for contracted services finances
ongoing IT infrastructure support for the agency. The 2025 budget
includes operations and maintenance of the MERIT system, which replaced
the legacy Automated Integrated Regulatory Examination System (AIRES)
in 2021. Several of the NCUA's other core information technology
systems and processes also require contract support in 2025, which
results in increased costs for contracted services, as described below.
Within the Office of Chief Information Officer's budget, an
additional $2.0 million compared to the 2024 budget level is required
for:
<bullet> Implementation of the NCUA's Cybersecurity Supply Chain
Risk Management tools, which help identify, assess, and mitigate risks
to ensure integrity and security of products and services purchased by
the agency. NIST standards require implementation of robust supply risk
management procedures.
<bullet> IT software, infrastructure services, and operations and
maintenance labor support for NCUA systems, including legacy
applications.
<bullet> O&M associated with the agency's new onboarding and
offboarding system, which is being designed to fulfill new personnel
background investigation standards required by the Defense
Counterintelligence and Security Agency.
The Asset Management Assistance Center's contracted services budget
increases by $1.1 million compared to the 2024 budget level. These
funds will provide additional examination support for NCUA's field
examiners and ensure sufficient surge resources are available to
respond to emergent matters.
The Office of External Affairs and Communication's contracted
services budget increases by $688,000 compared to the 2024 budget
level. These funds will provide for a new website hosting and services
support.
Within the Office of General Counsel, the contracted services
budget increases by $470,000 compared to the 2024 budget level. This
increase primarily relates to anticipated legal fees associated with
agency consumer financial protection efforts.
Within the Office of Business Innovation, the contracted services
budget increases by approximately $331,000 compared to the 2024 budget
level. These funds will provide contract support for the agency's
information system security processes and fund a survey administered by
a third party about credit unions' examination experiences.
[[Page 87622]]
The proposed contracted services budget for 2026 is $83.5 million.
Excluding the $5.0 million from surplus carryover used in 2025, the
2026 budget level represents a net increase of $5.5 million, or
approximately 7.1 percent.
V. Capital Budget
Overview
Annually, the NCUA carries out a rigorous review of agency's needs
for IT, facility improvements and repairs, and other multi-year capital
investments. The NCUA's executives and staff review the agency's
inventory of IT systems, IT hardware, and owned facilities and
equipment to determine what requires repair, major renovation, or
replacement. The staff then make recommendations for prioritized
investments to the NCUA Board.
The proposed 2025 Capital Budget is $8.2 million. This amount
includes $7.7 million for IT development projects and investments and
$480,000 for central office building minor construction and maintenance
projects. Within the total 2025 Capital Budget, the agency has
identified $1.5 million of past-year capital project budget surpluses,
which reduces by the same amount the level of new capital funding
provided for 2025.
IT systems and hardware require significant capital expenditures
for modern organizations. The 2025 Capital Budget's highest priorities
include continuing investments to bolster the NCUA's cybersecurity
posture and enable the agency to comply with E.O. 14028, Improving the
Nation's Cybersecurity, along with enhancements to the MERIT platform.
The budget also supports ongoing efforts to modernize the NCUA's IT
infrastructure and applications through the Information Technology
Infrastructure, Platform and Security Refresh project. Finally, the
2025 Capital Budget continues support for two multi-year projects:
development of a personnel security system in compliance with the
Trusted Workforce 2.0 directive from the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence (ODNI) and OPM, and further technology
enhancements to streamline and automate NCUA processes for reviewing
field of membership and new charter requests from credit unions and
organizing groups.
Routine repairs and lifecycle-driven property renovations are also
necessary to maintain investments in the NCUA-owned facilities. Each
year the NCUA assesses the physical condition of the agency's
properties to determine the need for essential repairs, replacement of
building systems that have reached the end of their engineered lives,
or renovations required to support changes in the agency's
organizational structure, or address revisions to building standards
and codes. The 2025 Capital Budget includes funding for the costs
associated with routine repairs, maintenance, and lifecycle-driven
property renovations for the agency's Alexandria, Virginia,
headquarters. Following an assessment and recommendations presented to
the Board, a decision was made to sell the NCUA-owned office building
in Austin, Texas, which is expected to be completed in 2025. Given
potential challenges in the commercial real estate market, however,
proceeds from this transaction have not been factored into the 2025
staff draft budget.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.025
Detailed descriptions of all proposed 2025 capital projects,
including a discussion of how each project helps the agency achieve its
goals and objectives, are provided in Appendix B.
Summary of Capital Projects
Examination and Supervision Solution/MERIT Enhancements ($1.8 Million)
Investments in the MERIT platform in 2025 will focus on upgrading
the MERIT system platform to take advantage of security improvements, a
streamlined interface, and new record management capability; modifying
the ISE output files for more efficient import into MERIT; and
implementing single sign-on for Partner Gateway applications including
for new reports.
Cloud Migration and Modernization ($1.3 Million)
The Cloud Migration and Modernization project is a major multi-year
investment that involves moving applications, data, and IT
infrastructure from servers located at NCUA controlled facilities to
cloud computing environments. This project will also include updating
and optimizing existing applications for cloud-native capabilities. By
leveraging cloud computing solutions, the NCUA can reduce costs related
to data center hosting, IT hardware purchasing, IT maintenance, and
associated IT labor costs. The cloud computing environment also
provides enhanced security functionality for the agency's systems.
Aspects of this project were included under the ``Executive Order on
Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity'' project in past years' budgets.
Network Access Control ($1.0 Million)
This project will strengthen the NCUA's network security by
automating and enhancing security patch management and scanning
functions for users connected to the agency's networks. In addition,
this project will integrate the NCUA's firewall services within the
overall network infrastructure and with the new patch and scanning
functionality.
CURE Process Automation ($1.0 Million)
This capital investment supports the development of initial
requirements and scoping for a public-facing portal that credit unions
and organizing groups will use to submit their field of membership and
new charter requests.
[[Page 87623]]
E.O. on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity ($0.9 Million)
The purpose of this capital investment is to ensure the NCUA
complies with E.O. 14028. The project will continue efforts to enable
Multi-Factor Authentication for certain NCUA applications, adhere to
best practices for supply chain risk management, and implement Zero
Trust Architecture for the agency's infrastructure and applications.
Information Technology Infrastructure, Platform, and Security Refresh
($0.8 Million)
This capital project will improve system availability and stability
by replacing outdated or end-of-life network and platform hardware to
ensure business continuity and efficient operations. Proposed projects
for 2025 include refreshing hardware and software, and costs associated
with backup storage at the NCUA's disaster recovery site.
Performance Management System ($0.8 Million)
This investment will support a modernized, phased workflow,
dashboards, and automated management of over 350 performance plan
packages to facilitate the employee performance management program for
the NCUA's employees.
Enterprise Laptop Refresh ($0.6 Million)
The purpose of this multi-year capital investment is to boost
overall agency productivity, efficiency, and security by providing the
NCUA staff with new laptops that offer improved processing power and
speed to multitask more effectively, enhanced mobility features like
reduced weight and longer battery life, and advanced security features
to better combat evolving cyber threats. The budgeted amount for 2025
will support testing and selection of new, standard laptop
configurations that will work with the NCUA's business applications and
requirements.
Headquarters Building Minor Construction and Maintenance Projects ($0.5
Million)
The proposed 2025 budget supports the NCUA's multi-year
headquarters building improvement plan that identifies projects that
can be completed incrementally, prioritizing the replacement of health
and safety infrastructure. The headquarters building is 30 years old,
and many original components need replacement. The ongoing multi-year
approach recognizes the critical building management and maintenance
needs while reducing the potential budgetary impact of such projects in
a single budget year.
System Updates for Significant Regulatory Changes ($0.3 Million)
This project will allow NCUA to update applications and databases
to accommodate new regulatory requirements or initiatives. Multiple
legacy systems are often impacted when regulatory changes are
finalized, or new initiatives are approved by the NCUA Board. These
changes can require significant time and programming resources to
ensure that related systems maintain their functionality before updated
rules take effect.
Onboarding/Offboarding Solution and Personnel Security Case Management
System ($0.3 Million)
The purpose of this project is to develop a new personnel security
management system for the NCUA in compliance with the Trusted Workforce
2.0 directive promulgated by ODNI and OPM. This system will centralize
personnel security case management and serve as a repository for
agencywide onboarding/offboarding actions.
Management Automated Resource System (MARS), Time Management System
(TMS), and Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) Development and
Reports ($0.3 Million)
This project funds short-term contractor support to develop CUSO
Reports, data collection forms such as the CUSO Registry Online form,
and to realign MARS and TMS development in support of regional
redistricting, new work code classifications, new examiner specialties,
and new supervisory examiner groups.
Off-Site Monitoring Project ($0.3 Million)
The goal of this capital investment is to leverage data analytics
solutions to minimize technology burdens on examination staff during
off-site monitoring while streamlining the way that offices identify
emerging and increasing risks to the Share Insurance Fund.
ONES Dedicated Computing Resources ($0.05 Million)
This capital investment will provide dedicated computing resources
required for data ingested through the ONES large credit union data
collection program.
Generative AI Licensing ($0.03 Million)
This capital project investment will fund a pilot program to test
the capability of Microsoft's AI tool, Microsoft 365 Copilot, for
possible development across the NCUA.
VI. Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses Budget
Overview
The Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses Budget funds
direct costs associated with authorized Share Insurance Fund
activities.\16\ Direct costs to the Share Insurance Fund include items
such as travel for state examiners attending NCUA-sponsored training,
data subscriptions and technology tools for ONES' analysis of large
credit unions, audit support for the Share Insurance Fund's financial
statements, and certain insurance-related expenses for AMAC operations.
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\16\ Direct costs do not include any costs that are shared with
the Operating Fund through the Overhead Transfer Rate, and with
payments available upon requisition by the Board, without fiscal
year limitation, for insurance under section 1787 of the Federal
Credit Union Act, and for providing assistance and making
expenditures under section 1788 of the Federal Credit Union Act in
connection with the liquidation or threatened liquidation of insured
credit unions as it may determine to be proper.
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The Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses Budget also pays
for costs associated with the corporate resolution program and related
NCUA Guaranteed Notes (NGN) program. On June 14, 2021, the last
outstanding NGN Trust matured. Given the significantly reduced size of
the legacy asset portfolio in the corporate asset management estates,
the proposed 2025 budget for the corporate resolution program continues
to decrease compared to the 2024 funding levels. The remaining assets
held by the NCUA are subject to ongoing litigation and will be sold
once all claims to ownership of underlying assets are resolved.
Budget Requirements and Description
The proposed 2025 Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses
Budget is $5.5 million, which is $0.4 million, or 7.0 percent, higher
than 2024.
The proposed 2025 budget increase is primarily driven by an
increase in the projected costs of state examiners traveling to NCUA-
sponsored training, increases in the cost of data and analytic models
used for analysis of large credit unions, costs of AMAC activities, and
inflationary growth in the cost of audit support. The proposed 2024
Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses Budget includes:
<bullet> $2.5 million for operating and maintenance costs of the
Asset and Liabilities Management system, which allows the NCUA to build
internal
[[Page 87624]]
analytical capabilities to conduct supervisory stress testing analyses
and to perform other quantitative risk assessments of large credit
unions.
<bullet> $0.3 million for certain insurance-related activities and
expenses of AMAC, such as consulting expenses necessary to avoid or
attempt to prevent a liquidation or conservatorship and staff travel
for consultation on complex or problem cases.
<bullet> $1.5 million for state examiner travel to NCUA-sponsored
training classes and $0.2 million to ensure that state supervisory
authorities can securely and efficiently access NCUA applications and
the NCUA's MERIT system for state examination and supervision
activities.
<bullet> $0.9 million for financial reporting, including the annual
financial audit and for contractor support to ensure effective internal
controls for the fund.
<bullet> $0.1 million for corporate resolution program legacy asset
waterfall models and valuation analysis support and data. The budget
for NGN support decreases by 60.1 percent between 2024 and 2025.
BILLING CODE 7535-01-P
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.026
[[Page 87625]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.027
BILLING CODE 7535-01-C
The proposed 2026 budget supports similar workload and resources
for the Share Insurance Fund, which at $5.4 million is $0.1 million
lower than the proposed 2025 level. With the anticipated wind-down of
the program in 2025 (subject to the status of ongoing litigation),
there is no corporate resolution budget planned for 2026 at this time.
VII. Financing the NCUA's Programs
Overview
The NCUA incurs various expenses to achieve its statutory mission,
including those involved in examining and supervising federally insured
credit unions. The NCUA Board adopts an Operating Budget, a Capital
Budget, and a Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses Budget each
year to fund most of the costs to operate the agency.\17\ When
formulating the annual budget, the NCUA is mindful that its funding
comes from credit unions and strives to operate in an efficient,
effective, transparent, and fully accountable manner.
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\17\ Some costs are directly charged to the Share Insurance Fund
when appropriate to do so. For example, costs for training and
equipment provided to SSAs are directly charged to the Share
Insurance Fund.
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The Federal Credit Union Act authorizes two primary sources to fund
the Operating Budget:
(1) Requisitions from the Share Insurance Fund ``for such
administrative and other expenses incurred in carrying out the
purposes of [Title II of the Act] as [the Board] may determine to be
proper,'' \18\ and
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\18\ 12 U.S.C. 1783(a).
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(2) ``[F]ees and assessments (including income earned on
insurance deposits) levied on insured credit unions under [the
Act].'' \19\ Among the fees levied under the Act are annual
Operating Fees, which are required for federal credit unions under
12 United States Code (U.S.C.) 1755 ``and may be expended by the
Board to defray the expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions
of [the Act,] including the examination and supervision of [federal
credit unions].''
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\19\ 12 U.S.C. 1766(j)(3). Other sources of income for the
Operating Budget have included interest income, funds from
publication sales, parking fee income, and rental income.
Taken together, these authorities effectively require the Board to
determine which expenses are appropriately paid from each source while
giving the Board broad discretion in allocating expenses.
In 1972, the U.S. Government Accountability Office recommended the
NCUA adopt a method for allocating Operating Budget costs--that is, the
portion of the NCUA's budget funded by requisitions from the Share
Insurance Fund and the portion covered by operating fees paid by
federal credit unions.\20\ The NCUA has since used an allocation
methodology known as the OTR to determine how much of the Operating
Budget to fund with a requisition from the Share Insurance Fund.
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\20\ See <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/b-1640314-31">https://www.gao.gov/products/b-1640314-31</a>.
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The NCUA uses the OTR methodology to allocate agency expenses
between these two primary funding sources. Specifically, the OTR is the
formula the NCUA uses to allocate insurance-related expenses to the
Share Insurance Fund under Title II of the Act. Almost all other
operating expenses are funded through collecting annual
[[Page 87626]]
operating fees paid by federal credit unions.\21\
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\21\ Annual operating fees must ``be determined according to a
schedule, or schedules, or other method determined by the NCUA Board
to be appropriate, which gives due consideration to the expenses of
the [NCUA] in carrying out its responsibilities under the [Act] and
to the ability of [federal credit unions] to pay the fee.'' 12
U.S.C. 1755(b).
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Two statutory provisions directly limit the Board's discretion with
respect to Share Insurance Fund requisitions for the NCUA's Operating
Budget and, hence, the OTR. First, expenses funded from the Share
Insurance Fund must carry out the purposes of Title II of the Act,
which relate to share insurance.\22\ Second, the NCUA may not fund its
entire Operating Budget through charges to the Share Insurance
Fund.\23\
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\22\ 12 U.S.C. 1783(a).
\23\ The Act in 12 U.S.C. 1755(a) states, ``[i]n accordance with
rules prescribed by the Board, each [federal credit union] shall pay
to the [NCUA] an annual operating fee which may be composed of one
or more charges identified as to the function or functions for which
assessed.'' See also 12 U.S.C. 1766(j)(3).
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The NCUA conducts a comprehensive workload analysis annually. This
analysis estimates the amount of time necessary to conduct examinations
and supervise federally insured credit unions to carry out the NCUA's
dual mission as insurer and regulator. This analysis starts with a
field-level review of every federally insured credit union to estimate
the number of workload hours needed for the year. These estimates are
informed by the overall parameters of the NCUA's examination program,
as most recently updated by the Exam Flexibility Initiative approved by
the Board.\24\ The workload estimates are then refined by regional
managers and submitted to the NCUA headquarters for the annual budget
proposal. The OTR methodology accounts for the costs of the NCUA, not
the costs of state regulators. Therefore, there are no calculations
made for state examiner hours.
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\24\ The Exam Flexibility Initiative started with the January 1,
2017, examination cycle, and it allows for extended examination
cycles for eligible credit unions. Letters to Credit Unions 16-CU-
12, December 2016.
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Overhead Transfer Rate
There have not been any major changes to the parameters of the
examination program since the current OTR methodology went into
effect.\25\ The minor variations in the OTR since 2018 are the result
of routine, small fluctuations in the variables that affect the OTR,
including normal fluctuations in the workload budget from one calendar
year to the next.
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\25\ On November 16, 2017, the NCUA Board adopted a new
methodology for calculating the Overhead Transfer Rate starting with
the 2018 Overhead Transfer Rate. 82 FR 55644, November 22, 2017.
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The NCUA Board approved the current methodology for calculating the
OTR at its November 2017 open meeting.\26\ In 2023, the Board published
in the Federal Register a request for comment regarding the OTR
methodology but did not propose or adopt any changes to the current
methodology.\27\ The OTR is designed to cover the NCUA's costs of
examining and supervising the risk to the Share Insurance Fund posed by
all federally insured credit unions, as well as the costs of
administering the fund. The OTR represents the percentage of the
agency's operating budget paid for by a transfer from the Share
Insurance Fund. Federally insured credit unions are not billed for and
do not have to remit the OTR amount; instead, it is transferred
directly to the Operating Fund from the Share Insurance Fund. This
transfer, therefore, represents a cost to all federally insured credit
unions.
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\26\ 82 FR 55644 (Nov. 22, 2017).
\27\ See <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/20/2023-28000/request-for-comment-regarding-overhead-transfer-rate-methodology">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/20/2023-28000/request-for-comment-regarding-overhead-transfer-rate-methodology</a>.
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Based on the Board-approved methodology and the proposed budget,
the OTR for 2025 is estimated to be 61.7 percent, which is the same
percentage as 2024.\28\ Thus, 61.7 percent of the total 2025 Operating
Budget is estimated to be paid out of the Share Insurance Fund. The
remaining 38.3 percent of the Operating Budget is estimated to be paid
for by operating fees collected from federal credit unions. The
explicit and implicit distribution of total Operating Budget costs for
federal credit unions and federally insured, state-chartered credit
unions (FISCUs) is outlined in the table below:
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\28\ See <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/28/2020-28487/overhead-transfer-rate-methodology-and-operating-fee-schedule-methodology">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/28/2020-28487/overhead-transfer-rate-methodology-and-operating-fee-schedule-methodology</a>.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.028
At the start of each year, the Office of the Chief Financial
Officer estimates the share of annual spending that will be paid by the
Share Insurance Fund through the OTR and calculates a monthly cash
advance that is transferred from the Share Insurance Fund to the
Operating Fund at the start of each month. During the financial close
at the end of each month, the OTR is multiplied by each month's actual
Operating Fund cash disbursement and expenditures, and the product of
that calculation is transferred from the Operating Fund to the Share
Insurance Fund or vice versa depending upon whether the Share Insurance
Fund share of the cash disbursements was lower or higher than the OTR
cash advance. This monthly reconciliation captures the variance between
actual and budgeted amounts, so that when the NCUA's expenditures are
less than budgeted, the amount charged to the Share Insurance Fund is
also less--and those lower expenditures benefit both federally
chartered and federally insured, state-chartered credit unions.
The following chart illustrates the share of the proposed 2025
Operating Budget that would be paid by federal credit unions (69.3%)
and federally insured, state-chartered credit unions (30.7%).
[[Page 87627]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.029
Operating Fee
The Board delegated authority to the Chief Financial Officer to
administer the methodology approved by the Board for calculating the
operating fee and to set the fee schedule as calculated per the
approved methodology. In December 2023, the Board approved and
published in the Federal Register the current operating fee
methodology, which forms the basis for how the operating fee is
calculated in this section.\29\ Consistent with its triennial schedule
for regulatory reviews, the NCUA requested public comment about the
operating fee methodology in 2023. At its December 2023 open meeting,
the NCUA Board approved three changes to the methodology for computing
the operating fee. First, for purposes of calculating the operating
fee, the asset exemption threshold was increased from $1 million to $2
million. Second, the NCUA Board agreed to adjust the asset exemption
threshold annually in future years by the computed rate of aggregate
asset growth at Federal Credit Unions. Third, in response to comments
from the public, as part of future reviews of the operating fee
schedule methodology the NCUA Board plans to analyze options to adjust
the distribution of operating fee costs.\30\
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\29\ See <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/26/2023-28303/national-credit-union-administration-operating-fee-schedule-methodology">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/26/2023-28303/national-credit-union-administration-operating-fee-schedule-methodology</a>.
\30\ See <a href="https://ncua.gov/newsroom/press-release/2023/board-approves-ncua-2024-2025-and-central-liquidity-facility-budgets">https://ncua.gov/newsroom/press-release/2023/board-approves-ncua-2024-2025-and-central-liquidity-facility-budgets</a>.
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Under the current methodology to determine the annual operating fee
assessed on federal credit unions serving consumers, the NCUA first
calculates the average of total assets reported in the preceding four
calendar quarters available at the time of the calculation, net of any
reported Paycheck Protection Program loans. Credit unions with assets
less than approximately $2 million are not assessed an operating fee
and their assets are therefore excluded from this calculation.\31\
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\31\ The exemption threshold for 2025 is estimated at
$2,080,250, which accounts for 4.01% aggregate growth in credit
union system assets.
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Based on the Board-approved operating fee methodology, which is
summarized in the following tables, the share of the proposed 2025
budget funded by the operating fee is $155.8 million. This equates to
0.01354 percent of the actual average of natural person federal credit
union assets for the four calendar quarters ending on June 30, 2024.
The calculated operating fee rate for 2025 increases by 9.02 percent
compared to the rate in 2024. This computation is shown in the table on
the following page.
As part of the Board-approved operating fee methodology, the NCUA
can adjust the share of the budget funded by the operating fee based on
an analysis of the agency's future cash flow requirements compared to
past years' collections that were not spent as planned. Any projected
surplus cash from past years' fee collections not required to finance
agency operations can accordingly be used to lower the operating fee
share of the proposed budget. Because such cash surpluses result from
past years' operating fee collections, they do not offset the portion
of the budget funded by the OTR. As the final 2025-2026 budget is
prepared for consideration by the NCUA Board, the Chief Financial
Officer will evaluate the agency's cash position and make a
recommendation about any surplus cash that can be credited to the
operating fee.
To set the assessment scale for 2025, total growth in natural
person federal credit union assets is calculated as the change between
the average of the four most-current quarters (that is, the third and
fourth quarters of 2023 and the first two quarters of 2024) and the
previous four quarters (that is, the third and fourth quarters of 2022
and the first two quarters of 2023), which is calculated as 4.01
percent. The fee exemption threshold and the asset level dividing
points for the fee tiers are likewise increased by this same growth
rate to preserve the same relative relationship of the scale to the
applicable asset base.
[[Page 87628]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.030
Operating Fee Scale
To illustrate the rate for each asset tier for which operating fees
are charged, the tables below show the effect of the average 9.02
percent increase in the operating fee for natural person federal credit
unions, using the current $2.08 million exemption threshold.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.031
[[Page 87629]]
VIII. Appendix A: Supplemental Budget Information
Budget by Strategic Goal
The table below shows the combined total of the 2025 Operating,
Capital, and Share Insurance Fund Administrative Expenses budgets,
organized by the NCUA's three current strategic goals.
BILLING CODE 7535-01-P
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[[Page 87630]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.033
[[Page 87631]]
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[[Page 87632]]
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[[Page 87641]]
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[[Page 87642]]
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[[Page 87643]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.046
[[Page 87644]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.047
[[Page 87645]]
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[[Page 87646]]
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[[Page 87647]]
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[[Page 87648]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN04NO24.051
[[Page 87649]]
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[[Page 87650]]
BILLING CODE 7535-01-C
X. Appendix C: Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
A
Asset Management and Assistance Center (AMAC): The office at the
NCUA responsible for conducting credit union liquidations and
performing management and recovery of assets. Additionally, this office
supports the NCUA's regional offices' review of large complex loan
portfolios and actual or potential bond claims.
Automated Cybersecurity Evaluation Toolbox (ACET): The NCUA's ACET
application provides credit unions the capability to conduct a maturity
assessment aligned with the FFIEC's Cybersecurity Assessment Tool.
Using the assessment within the toolbox allows institutions of all
sizes to easily determine and measure their own cybersecurity
preparedness over time.
Automated Integrated Regulatory Examination System (AIRES): AIRES
is the NCUA's legacy examination system, which was replaced by MERIT.
C
CAMELS: The NCUA's composite CAMELS rating consists of an
assessment of a credit union's Capital adequacy, Asset quality,
Management, Earnings, Liquidity risk, and Sensitivity to market risk.
Central Liquidity Facility (CLF): The CLF is a mixed-ownership
government corporation that serves as a source for emergency funding
for consumer credit unions and corporate credit unions that join the
facility.
Credit Union Resources and Expansion (CURE): The NCUA's Office of
Credit Union Resources and Expansion supports credit union growth and
development. CURE assists low-income and minority credit unions, as
well as all credit unions seeking assistance with chartering, charter
conversions, bylaw amendments, field-of-membership expansion requests
and low-income designations. CURE also provides access to online
training and resources and to grants and loans through the Community
Development Revolving Loan Fund.
E
Office of Examination and Insurance (E&I): The office at the NCUA
responsible for supervision programs, which ensure the safety and
soundness of the credit union system and that manages risk to the Share
Insurance Fund.
F
Federal Credit Union: A federal credit union is a member-owned and
controlled, not-for-profit, cooperative financial institution chartered
by the NCUA and formed to provide its members with affordable and safe
financial services.
Federal Information Security Modernization Act: A federal statute
enacted in 2014 that enables the government to better respond to
cyberattacks on departments and agencies.
Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS): FERS is a defined-
benefit retirement plan for civilian employees of the federal
government.
Field of Membership: A credit union's field of membership defines
who is eligible to join the credit union.
Federally Insured, State-chartered Credit Union (FISCU): A FISCU is
a member-owned and controlled, not-for-profit, cooperative financial
institution chartered by the state in which it is located. FISCUs are
insured by the NCUA and supervised jointly with the state supervisory
authority that chartered them.
I
Information Security Examination (ISE): A risk-focused approach to
examine credit unions' information security focused on areas of
material current or potential risk relevant to each credit union's
unique business model.
M
Modern Examination and Risk Identification Tool (MERIT) examination
system: MERIT is the NCUA's new web-based examination platform that
replaced AIRES.
Minority Deposit Institution (MDI): By law, MDI describes a
federally insured credit union in which a majority of its current
members, its board of directors, and the community it services, as
designated in its charter, fall within any of the eligible minority
groups described in Section 308 of the Financial Institutions Reform,
Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.\32\
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\32\ See <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2013-preserving-minority-depository-institutions-section-308-firrea.htm">https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2013-preserving-minority-depository-institutions-section-308-firrea.htm</a>.
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O
Office of the Chief Informational Officer (OCIO): The office at the
NCUA responsible for establishing the organization's enterprise IT
vision, security strategy, roadmap and related policies and management
controls.
Office of Consumer Financial Protection (OCFP): The office at the
NCUA responsible for the consumer financial literacy efforts, the
NCUA's Consumer Assistance Center, consumer financial protection
compliance policy and rulemaking, fair lending examinations,
interagency coordination on consumer financial protection compliance
matters, and the agency's consumer-focused website <a href="http://MyCreditUnion.gov">MyCreditUnion.gov</a>.
Office of the Inspector General (OIG): The office at the NCUA
responsible for promoting the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of
NCUA programs and operations, and detects and deters fraud, waste and
abuse, thereby supporting the NCUA's mission of monitoring and
promoting safe and sound federally insured credit unions. OIG conducts
independent audits, investigations, and other activities, and keeps the
NCUA Board and U.S. Congress fully and currently informed of its work.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB): An agency within the
Executive Office of the President responsible for overseeing the
performance of federal agencies and administering the federal budget.
Office of National Examination and Supervision (ONES): The office
at the NCUA responsible for overseeing the examination and supervision
issues related to consumer credit unions with assets greater than $15
billion and all corporate credit unions.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM): An agency responsible
for human resources matters and personnel policy for the federal
government.
Overhead Transfer Rate (OTR): The share of the NCUA's operating and
capital budgets that comes from the Share Insurance Fund. The OTR
represents the insurance-related costs that are paid for out of the
Share Insurance Fund.
[FR Doc. 2024-25568 Filed 11-1-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7535-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on November 4, 2024.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.