Office of Minority & Women Inclusion Report
WHAT IS A MINORITY CREDIT UNION?
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) charged NCUA
with the responsibility of designing a program to preserve
minority credit unions (MCUs). Specifically, the law amended
Section 308 of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery,
and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) to require NCUA to
implement this program. In August 1989, Congress enacted
Section 308 and titled it “Preserving Minority Ownership of
Minority Financial Institutions.” At that time, applicability
was limited to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and
the Office of Thrift Supervision. Section 308 requires
financial regulatory agencies to implement methods best
suited for achieving the following goals:
;Preserve the present number of minority depository
institutions.
;Preserve their minority character in cases involving
mergers or acquisitions of a minority depository institution
by using general preference guidelines.
;Provide technical assistance to prevent insolvency of
institutions not now insolvent.
; Promote and encourage the creation of new minority
depository institutions.
; Provide outreach for training, technical assistance and
educational programs.
In January 2011, NCUA established an Office of Minority
and Women Inclusion (OMWI), in response to the Dodd-Frank Act. One OMWI responsibility is to design and
administer NCUA’s MCU Preservation Program. OMWI is in
the process of developing the program. The first step is to
identify potential MCUs.
Section 308 of FIRREA defines “Minority” to mean any
“Black American, Asian American, Hispanic American, or
Native American.” Management officials include the board,
supervisory committee, credit committee members, and senior
executive staff (i.e., chief executive officer, treasurer/manager,
assistant chief executive officer, vice president, assistant
manager, and chief financial officer).
NEW INTERNET AUTHENTICATION GUIDANCE ISSUED (FROM PAGE 10)
A: Credit union management and officials should review the
supplemental guidance. Credit unions that use Technology Service
Providers (TSP) in customer authentication activities should
contact their TSPs and ask what steps the TSPs have taken to
implement the changes. Most importantly and prior to the year’s
end, credit unions should perform updated risk assessments for all
retail and commercial electronic banking services they offer. If
credit unions have not completed risk assessments by Jan. 1,
2012, examiners may issue a DOR to document an agreement
with credit union officials to complete the assessments as soon as
possible. Credit unions should also engage with both retail and
commercial account holders about customer awareness and
educational efforts. Credit unions should not wait until Jan. 1,
2012, to start working towards conformance.
