A new “seal of office” for the regulator of federal credit unions was signed off on by President Donald Trump Friday, who issued an order which calls for imposition of an eagle, three stars (representing the agency’s board) and the date of the enabling act for federal credit unions as portions of the new symbol.
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board first proposed the new seal in 2008 (when the chairman was JoAnn Johnson), and sent it to President George W. Bush for approval via executive order. Bush never issued the order.
In 2008, Johnson said the new seal would “make clear the status of our agency as a federal regulator and insurer” and that it would heighten “awareness with lawmakers, the media and, perhaps most importantly, the American consumer” by acting to promote confidence in federally insured credit unions.
The agency’s seal, up to now, has been an arrow pointing upward on a blue background, with the words “National Credit Union Administration” encircling it. That seal was approved in 1971 by Executive Order of President Richard Nixon. Trump’s order officially revokes the 46-year-old order.
According to Trump’s order (issued Dec. 8) the seal going forward for the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) will now include:
- An eagle overlaid by a shield (conveying the agency’s role as an arm of the Federal Government);
- The text of “NCUA” in white on a blue background on the crest of the shield (which the order notes is the “core of the sign that federally insured credit unions are required to display.”)
- Three stars above the eagle (representing the NCUA’s three-member Board, who are appointed by the president, and confirmed by the Senate);
- An oak branch held by the eagle in its left talon (symbolizing “NCUA’s strength, honor, and longevity in carrying out its mission of promoting confidence in the national system of cooperative credit”);
- An olive branch held in the eagle’s right talon (symbolizing “the peace and prosperity facilitated by the economic growth and access to affordable financial services that the Nation’s credit unions have long provided to millions of Americans”);
- The upper portion of the circle that forms the border of the seal includes the agency’s title (“National Credit Union Administration”). The lower portion of the circle displays the date “1934” (which “reflects the creation of the Federal credit union system by the Congress in 1934 and the long unbroken line of Federal credit union regulation that evolved into the NCUA”).
Presidential Executive Order on Revising the Seal for the National Credit Union Administration