NCUA Board Approves Budget & Succession Planning Final Rule

According to the NCUA, the 2025 Operating, Capital and Share Insurance Fund administrative budgets will include $395.4 million and 1,255 staff positions. “This is $37.7 million and six positions lower than the staff draft budget. The operating fee is 1.2% lower than the staff draft budget. The combined budget for 2026 is $419.5 million, with 1,263 staff positions. This is $49.0 million and nine positions lower than the 2026 staff draft budget,” the NCUA stated.

NCUA Board Chair Todd Harper said, “Give-and-take is an essential part of any organization’s policymaking and budgeting processes, and the budget before us reflects that principle in action. This funding plan demonstrates the NCUA’s strong financial stewardship, and it will allow the agency to effectively execute its safety and soundness, consumer financial protection and other statutory responsibilities over the next two years.”

In a statement to media Tuesday afternoon concerning the NCUA’s budget, America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle said, “For too many years, the NCUA has been a runaway train of frivolous spending when they should be finding ways to cut costs. We appreciate the agency taking another look at its staff needs and reducing that proposal, but we still have concerns with its spending. With this final budget, the agency isn’t reducing or being more efficient in its spending. Instead, it simply reduces the cash buffer in the Operating Fund. While America’s Credit Unions supports a thorough review of agency cash needs and a return of surplus funds to credit unions, this is not a sustainable strategy. Eventually these surplus credits will dry up and credit unions will be stuck with the bill.”

A full breakdown of the 2025-2026 budgets can be found on the NCUA’s website.

Succession Planning

In another 3-0 vote, members approved a final rule requiring boards of directors of federally insured credit unions to establish a succession planning processes for key positions.

According to the final rule, boards must establish a written succession plan for positions “that are vital to the operation and management of the credit union” and review those plans every two years. The initial proposed rule would have required the review process to occur every year.

“The final rule also requires newly appointed members of the board to be familiar with those plans within six months after their appointment. For federally insured, state-chartered credit unions in states that have established succession planning requirements, the NCUA will defer to the state’s requirements if no conflict exists between the final rule and the state’s rules,” according to a statement from the NCUA.

Harper said, “We know that the failure to plan for management and key decision-maker transitions comes with a cost. The potential costs range from an unanticipated merger of a credit union or its failure when key personnel depart. For small, low-income and minority depository institution credit unions, as well as those that support under-resourced urban and rural communities, this situation happens more than any of us would like. This final rule on succession planning establishes a way for the NCUA to address one of the most common causes for unplanned and unforced credit union mergers. It also ensures that smaller institutions remain the cornerstone of our nation’s federally insured credit union system.”

According to NCUA staff, the agency received more than 130 comments to the final rule during the comment period. They said 116 of those comments appeared to be form letters with the same wording.

To ensure credit unions have the necessary time to develop their succession plans, the Board said it is delaying the effective date of the final rule until Jan. 1, 2026.