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NCUA's Mary Ann Woodson told the NCUA Board during Thursday's open meeting there will be no share insurance premium assessment for 2014.

This will be the fourth consecutive year of no premium for the NCUSIF, which, according to preliminary data, had an equity ratio of 1.3 percent Sept. 30. The last NCUSIF premium, set at 12.4 basis points, was assessed in 2010.

NAFCU welcomed Thursday's announcement. "We appreciate the agency's efforts in management of the NCUSIF," said Mike Coleman, NAFCU's director of regulatory affairs. "We are pleased to see that it continues to be well-funded … In the meantime, we continue to urge NCUA to exercise greater transparency by fully disclosing the amounts disbursed and allocated for each fund it administers."

Woodson, NCUA's outgoing chief financial officer, reported that the NCUSIF had total reserves of $167.3 million as of Sept. 30; of that, just $19.4 million was allocated to specific problem cases. This year's 12 credit union failures have cost the fund $30.4 million, of which $28.6 million was related to fraud. Woodson also reported third-quarter insurance loss expense way below projection.

Given the above, NCUA Board Member J. Mark McWatters suggested that NCUA should consider whether some of its focus on regulation should be redirected at fraud prevention. In response, Chairman Debbie Matz said while losses due to mismanagement may be low now, that has not always been the case. She said safety and soundness and sound regulation go hand in hand.

The number of credit unions with CAMEL code 4 or 5 was down from June by seven, totaling 288 Sept. 30, and held 1.38 percent of total insured shares.

Also on Thursday, the NCUA Board released proposed rules on flood insurance and corporate credit unions (see related story).