Thursday, December 23, 2010

New Fiduciary Duty Standards and Disclosure of Enforcement Actions

Will NCUA's new fiduciary responsibility rule mean that federal credit unions will have to make public enforcement orders to the credit unions' membership?

As readers of this blog know, I have derided the NCUA about not making public all enforcement actions, such as Letters of Understanding and Agreement and other consent orders.

However, the new standards of fiduciary duty for federal credit union directors adopted by NCUA Board on December 16 may result in these enforcement actions being made public by federal credit unions.

The final rule will require directors to act in the best interests of credit union members, particularly in connection with matters affecting the fundamental rights of members.

In my estimation, regulatory enforcement orders are material events that affect the fundamental rights of credit union members and therefore, should be disclosed. Members have the right to know whether management and the board have engaged in unsafe and unsound banking practices or have violated the law.

Not disclosing this information could be viewed as a breach of the directors' fiduciary duty.

Now, if only we could get NCUA to practice what it preaches. If NCUA really believes that part of its job is to protect the interest of credit union members, shouldn't the agency publish all enforcement actions?

1 comment:

  1. NCUA is not the SEC, and need not have the same standards. Get over it. And if you truly want to protect credit union members, get a new job--rather than take pay to attempt to materially disrupt the CU sector. You will have a much happier New Year.

    ReplyDelete

 

The content is provided for educational purposes only, with the understanding that neither the authors, contributors, nor the publishers of this site are engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other expert or professional services. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Comments appearing in response to articles appearing on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of the ABA. ABA makes no representations regarding the truth or accuracy of commentary or opinions that may be posted in response to the articles that appear on this website.

The inclusion herein of any link to a website, either in the text of an article or in a comment, does not denote any approval, sponsorship, or endorsement by the ABA, and ABA is not responsible for the content or opinions expressed on those linked websites or related commentary. This content is not licensed to third parties sites and is not affiliated with any third party site. Any reference to the author or this content on any third party site on the Internet is not authorized by the ABA.

It is the policy of the American Bankers Association to comply fully with all antitrust laws. Certain discussions should be considered off-limits, including those that contain competitively sensitive data such as price and cost information, or statements that could be construed as reflecting an attempt or desire to control or influence a particular market or markets. Future pricing or other prospective competitive information should never be shared.