NCUA Chairman Todd M. Harper Statement on the NCUA’s 2024–2025 Budget

As Prepared for Delivery on December 14, 2023

Thank you, Eugene and Jim, and thank you to the entire teams in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Office of the Executive Director for developing and finalizing the NCUA’s 2024–2025 budget. I appreciate the many hours spent to arrive at today’s final agreement. Thank you, everyone, for your incredible efforts.

This budget agreement would not be possible without the collaboration of Vice Chairman Hauptman, Board Member Hood, their senior policy advisors — Sarah Bang and Naghi Khalid, respectively — and the NCUA’s Chief of Staff Catherine Galicia. The willingness of these individuals to engage in good-faith discussions about competing priorities allowed us to reach a consensus on the budget we are considering today. Thank you, all!

In addition, thank you to the many stakeholders who participated in this year’s budget briefing and provided written comments about the draft budget. Your feedback assisted the agency in its consideration of these matters and the development of a final budget.

The recommended budget before us represents a consensus. It includes compromises by each of us at the table. As Eugene noted in his presentation, the recommended overall total budget for 2024 — including the operating budget, the capital budget, and the Share Insurance Fund administrative budget — is $385.7 million and 1,247 staff positions. Additionally, the combined budget for 2025 is estimated at $433.3 million and 1,251 staff positions.

Compared to the funding and staffing levels shown in the staff draft budget, this budget is smaller in dollars by approximately $8.8 million or 7.0 percent. With these compromises, the NCUA is making critical investments in its field examination program to protect the system’s safety and soundness as credit unions respond to growing liquidity, interest rate, credit, and cybersecurity risks.

Notably, field staff in the examination program in the regions and ONES will also increase by a net total of 13 full-time equivalent employees. These final numbers reflect the latest updates to the NCUA’s anticipated examination and supervision program needs for 2024.

The final budget also includes support for both small and MDI credit unions as well as investments to improve the automation and processing of field-of-membership applications. Additionally, there are investments to further protect credit union members’ rights, prepare large credit unions for the transition to oversight by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and strengthen the system and the Share Insurance Fund against emerging risks. And, perhaps most importantly, these investments include adjustments to the pay and benefits of our workforce, allowing the NCUA to remain a competitive employer and able to attract talent. Together, all these investments will allow the NCUA to accomplish its work without sacrificing quality.

Give and take is essential to any organization’s policymaking and budgeting process, and the budget before us reflects that principle in action. This funding plan provides sound financial stewardship and will allow the NCUA to execute its financial stability and consumer financial protection missions over the next two years. As such, I will support this plan.

That concludes my remarks. I look forward to a productive 2024 and now recognize the Vice Chairman for his comments and questions.