NCUA extends virtual-meeting bylaws option through 2021 for federal credit unions

Federally chartered credit unions may adopt or continue following a special bylaw authorized by their regulatory agency to facilitate remote annual membership, board, or special membership meetings in 2021, the agency said in a letter Friday.

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) in March said federal credit unions could use such a bylaw – which can be adopted by the credit union without additional approvals by the NCUA – to facilitate remote meetings in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic that makes in-person meetings risky.

Options for such remote sessions include webcasts, teleconferences, virtual meeting rooms “or similar means that permit members to listen, vote as necessary, and participate,” the letter explains in a footnote.

In Friday’s letter, the agency said a a federal credit union may adopt, by a two-thirds vote of its board of directors, the bylaw amendment presented in the letter without additional approvals by the NCUA. It said that if a federal credit union has adopted the bylaw amendment, “it is appropriate to invoke its provisions at any point in 2021 for meetings occurring in that year, if a majority of the board of directors so resolves for each such meeting. General quorum requirements must still be met for all-virtual meetings.”

The agency refers back to its March letter on this option – Letter 20-FCU-02 – for specific directions on how a federal credit union can postpone its annual meeting, how to amend the date of its annual meeting by using the fill-in-the-blank provision in its bylaws, and quorum requirements.

NCUA Letter 20-FCU-04

NCUA Letter 20-FCU-02