Newsroom

The NCUA yesterday filed its brief for the appeal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision in the American Bankers Association (ABA) lawsuit that challenged the agency's field of membership (FOM) rule. The lower court upheld two challenged portions of NCUA's FOM rule and struck down two provisions in the lawsuit filed against the agency. NAFCU maintains that FOM reforms are well within the NCUA's legal authority.

"NAFCU remains a staunch advocate of the NCUA's legal authority to modernize credit unions' fields of membership, and we strongly support the NCUA during this appeal process," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. "We will continue to support the agency's efforts to keep credit unions competitive and allow them to grow, and will be filing an amicus brief to support the NCUA in the FOM lawsuit."

The provisions declared to exceed the NCUA's statutory authority include those that automatically qualify a combined statistical area (CSA) with fewer than 2.5 million people to be a local community and the increase to 1 million people the population limit for rural districts. The court's decision led to 43 credit unions reverting their new FOM charters.

The NCUA appealed the decision in May and ABA cross-appealed in June. More information on the issues the NCUA and ABA plan to address during the appeal can be found here.