NCUA Board – with a full group of three members, first time in months – meets for only fourth time this year
The NCUA Board Thursday heard briefings on three topics and took no action during the panel’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting – but only its fourth in 2024.
But that’s not the news. What is news is that all three members were in attendance for the first time in months since the two Democratic appointees to the board were fired by President Donald Trump (R) in April.
Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka, board members who were reinstated just two days before the Thursday meeting by the ruling of a federal judge, joined NCUA Board Chairman Kyle Hauptman at the meeting. Otsuka attended in person; Harper attended remotely, as he was away from the Washington area. The NCUA Board met at its Alexandria, Va., headquarters.
On July 22, U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali ruled, in summary judgment, that the structure and function of the credit union agency, through Federal Credit Union Act (FCUA), “make clear Congress restricted the President’s authority to fire NCUA Board members.”
The judge also ruled found Harper and Otsuka could be reinstated since their removal was an unlawful act by the president.
The Trump administration has already appealed Ali’s ruling. It also asked for a stay of the judge’s ruling pending appeal, which would block the reinstatement of the board members. However, as of Thursday, a federal appeals court had not yet acted on the administration’s request for the stay – which opened the door for the two Democratic members to attend the day’s meeting.
The briefings the for-now full NCUA Board heard focused on artificial intelligence (AI), results of a survey of credit unions on exams, and the status of the Central Liquidity Facility (CLF) for credit unions.
On AI, the agency said that it conducted a review of existing guidance on AI “and concluded that focusing solely on model risk management would not provide timely, use-case appropriate guidance for all of the ways that credit unions are, or could be, using AI.”
The agency said it asserts that any new requirements from possible guidance “would need to be established through the rulemaking process.”
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