The NCUA board of directors held its sixth open meeting of 2019 yesterday and approved a proposed rule on the agency’s Risk-Based Capital requirements. The proposed rule approved calls for a delay in the effective date for its RBC rules, pushing the date back to Jan. 1, 2022 rules that were to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. It is just the latest delay in a rule that was originally proposed in 2014 and finalized in 2015.

As CU Times previously reported, NCUA Board Chairman Rodney Hood called for a delay in the implementation of the Risk-Based Capital rule during his Senate confirmation process.

During the meeting, Board Chairman Rodney Hood and board member Mark J. McWatters voted in favor of the delay, while board member Todd Harper voted against any further delay.

The proposed delay will provide the board more time to consider additional improvements to credit union standards, such as subordinated debt authority, capital treatment for asset securitization and a community bank leverage ratio equivalent for credit unions. The delay will also give the agency time to integrate changes into the rule before it goes into effect.

As previously reported, the board unanimously approved a delay for the RBC rule until Jan. 1, 2020, and raise the asset threshold for a complex credit union from $100 million to $500 million.

If the Jan. 1, 2022 date remains in effect, only Hood will still be on the board. McWatters’ term expires later this year, while Harper’s term is to expire in April of 2021.

“This is an appropriate time to consider additional improvements to the risk-based capital rule,” NCUA Board Chairman Rodney E. Hood said. “We have a strong economy, and credit unions are very well-capitalized, with a net worth above 11 percent. As a regulator and steward of the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, I am committed to a system of prudent capital standards as required by the Federal Credit Union Act.”

Comments on the proposed rule must be received within 30 days.