Powers of Federal Credit Unions
Key claim: Federal credit unions would no longer need a legal opinion from NCUA lawyers before asking the NCUA Board for permission to offer a new incidental service.
Abstract
(Proposed Rule · National Credit Union Administration) The NCUA Board (Board) is proposing to amend the NCUA’s regulations regarding incidental powers to clarify that federal credit unions (FCUs) are not required to seek an advisory opinion from the NCUA’s Office of General Counsel before petitioning the Board to engage in an activity that does not fall within an FCU’s preapproved incidental powers.
Why this matters
The incidental powers petition process is how federal credit unions ask NCUA to recognize new activities (beyond those already enumerated) as permissible under the Federal Credit Union Act. Removing the pre-petition legal-opinion step is a procedural simplification that could lower the time and cost for a credit union to seek Board approval of a novel service, though the Board’s substantive standard for approving incidental activities is unchanged.