The National Credit Union Administration revealed “its sweeping regulatory reform plan” on how it can honor President Donald Trump’s order to massively scale back government regulations.
The plan upholds one of Trump’s first executive orders that he announced back in January. In the order, he asked that for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations be identified for elimination. And the costs of the planned regulations need to be prudently managed and controlled through a budgeting process.
There is one major disclaimer in Trump’s order though: It doesn’t apply to independent agencies, which is explained more in-depth here.
The NCUA, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, are all independent agencies.
So while they are not required by law to honor the order, they could choose to honor it in spirit, a move the NCUA chose to do.
At the time of the announcement, J. Mark McWatters, who was appointed by Trump, was only acting chairman of the board. He was officially named chairman of the NCUA board in June.
Now about half a year later, the NCUA released a package of regulatory reforms recommended by an internal agency task force and is inviting credit union stakeholders to read and comment on it.
The task force recommended changes that would be adopted in the coming four years to clarify, improve, revise, or eliminate regulations.
The board already approved the plan, and it is posted in the Federal Register for a 90-day comment period. The full reform can be read here.
“The need for a forward-looking regulatory structure that offers meaningful relief without undermining safety and soundness is quite clear,” McWatters said, “and these recommendations serve as a roadmap for a thoughtful process to achieve that goal.”
“This undertaking represents a more significant and comprehensive regulatory relief effort than the agency has pursued in the past. We initiated this effort in the spirit of the administration’s executive order requiring regulatory review, even though the NCUA is not covered by the order,” McWatters said.
