Page 12 - 2015 Contact Magazine: 3rd Quarter

Q&A with NCUA Chairman Rick Metsger

Last spring, following the retirement of NCUA Chairman Debbie
Matz, President Obama appointed NCUA Vice Chairman Rick
Metsger to the position of chairman. In addition to serving on
the NCUA board, Metsger has also spent time as a state legislator,
teacher, journalist and credit union board member. In a Q&A
with C o n t a c t he offered an outline of his approach to the
chairmanship, his priorities for the agency moving forward
and his perspective on some of the major issues credit unions
face today.

Excerpts of that conversation are below; his responses have
been edited for length and clarity.

How do you expect your approach to the chairmanship NCUA Chairman, Rick Metsger
to di er rom t t o our predecessor CUA C irm n
Debbie Matz?
Chairman Matz and I share a lot of the same values and beliefs
about the credit union, but our styles are different…I really
encourage open communication both within the staff and
from outside sources. I invite it vigorously. Particularly as a
federal agency, there’s nothing wrong and everything that
could be right about engaging the regulated community with
what you’re attempting to do and why you’re doing it.

t re to specific re s ou intend to ocus on in t e On modernizing Call Reports: We’re trying to modernize Call
next year or so? Reports so that not only does NCUA get the information it
On exam flexibility: We’re looking at how we examine credit unions, needs [prior to exams in order to reduce time on-site], but also
how we can reduce our footprint in the credit union space, how to make the Call Report a more manageable platform for credit
we can reduce the time on the road with our examiners and unions. I call it the 1040EZ or the TurboTax® approach—if you
other staff, and how we can maintain the standards we need to don’t do this activity or offer a certain product, you can move
maintain in order to have a safe and sound system. That’s using right to the next area on the Call Report and you don’t even
technology and all the tools at our disposal to make sure we put see those fields. We’re really specifying and simplifying the Call
our resources where they are most needed. Report to those activities the credit union is actually engaged in.

At the 2015 CUNA GAC, 
Rick Metsger, left, is seen here with 
MCUL & Affiliates President/CEO 
Dave Adams and EVP/COO Ken Ross.

12 T hird Q uarter 2016 I Contact