NCUA Signals Deregulatory Shift, Leaner Budget at June 24 Board Meeting

Posted by John Trull on June 24, 2026

The NCUA Board held its open meeting on Wednesday, June 24, with briefings on regulatory updates, Share Insurance Fund performance, and the agency’s 2026 mid-year budget. The NCUA reinforced its commitment toward reducing regulatory burden, streamlining requirements, and operating with a smaller footprint.  The meeting comes amid agency transition, with a June 25 Senate Banking Committee nomination hearing for John Crews, who is nominated to fill Chairman Hauptman’s Board seat, which expired earlier this year. In addition, we are expecting the Supreme Court decision that will decide whether independent agency directors can be removed by the executive at will. The decision will resolve whether the President had the authority to remove Harper and Otsuka from the NCUA Board and is expected to be in favor of the Executive, clearing the way for two additional nominees to the NCUA Board.

Regulatory update

Amanda Parkhill, Acting Director of the Office of Examination and Insurance, opened the meeting with a broad update on NCUA’s regulatory activity. She noted that in 2026, NCUA plans to issue more than 50 rulemakings, guidance documents, and policy actions across the agency.

Parkhill walked through several deregulatory actions and explained what the proposals are intended to do. She also made clear what certain rules do not do. For example, she noted that some fair lending regulatory provisions are being removed because they are duplicative of statute, but that all fair lending laws continue to apply.

Parkhill also indicated that the final rule eliminating examiner references to reputational risk will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow.

Chairman Hauptman asked where the agency stands on rules implementing the GENIUS Act. Parkhill indicated that the agency is engaged in implementation and said she does not anticipate credit unions being behind or at a disadvantage as GENIUS Act regulations are developed.

Board Briefing, Regulatory Update

Share Insurance Fund update
The Board also received an update on Share Insurance Fund performance from Acting CFO Melissa Lowden. The report showed continued improvement in CAMELS-rated credit unions. The number of CAMELS 3 credit unions decreased from 653 to 636, and assets in CAMELS 3 credit unions fell by $9.8 billion. The number of CAMELS 4 and 5 credit unions also decreased, from 117 to 107, while assets in CAMELS 4 and 5 credit unions fell by $2.2 billion. Despite these improvements, NCUA increased Share Insurance Fund loss reserves by $15.3 million. Lowden explained that the increase was driven by 2 factors, higher delinquency across the system and greater certainty regarding future losses the Share Insurance Fund is expected to absorb in the next quarter.

The Share Insurance Fund remains strong, reporting $105.3 million in net income, $24.5 billion in assets, and more than 92 percent of credit unions rated CAMELS 1 or 2 despite three failures. GoWest continues to advocate for reducing the Share Insurance Fund’s normal operating level to 1.30%.

Board Briefing, Share Insurance Fund Quarterly Report

Mid-year budget update
The final agenda item was NCUA’s 2026 mid-year budget update, also presented by Acting CFO Lowden.

The headline is that NCUA’s budget reductions are resulting in a nearly 25% reduction in operating fees, generating an estimated average savings of $14,500 for federal credit unions. Most of the savings come from reduced employee pay and benefits expenses tied to the voluntary separation program. However, all major expense categories are down year over year, including travel, contracted services, rent, communications, utilities, and administrative expenses, a direction that aligns with GoWest’s ongoing budget advocacy. GoWest has consistently urged NCUA to reduce agency spending, lower operating fees, and ensure credit unions see the benefit of agency efficiencies.

NCUA Mid-year Budget Slides

Overall, the meeting underscored a deregulatory shift and institutional transition likely to shape the credit union regulatory environment into 2027.

Link to Board Meeting

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Regulatory Advocacy.