ABA Files Appeal of NCUA's FOM Rule

The American Bankers Association (ABA) on June 5 filed a cross-appeal in its legal challenge to the National Credit Union Administration’s field of membership (FOM) rule.

The cross-appeal specifically challenged a portion of the recent decision by a D.C. circuit court judge upholding provisions of the rule that permit credit unions to serve core-based statistical areas without serving the urban core that defines the area. While Judge Dabney Fredrich upheld that provision in her ruling in March, she noted that “the approach to Core-Based Statistical Areas pushes against the outer limits of reasonableness.”

Judge Fredrich also declared invalid and vacated two portions of the NCUA rule: (1) the inclusion of combined statistical areas with fewer than 2.5 million people and (2) the dramatic expansion of a “rural area” to include areas with up to 1 million people — which in some cases could encompass entire states.

On May 23, NCUA filed a notice of appeal.