The operating budget of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is rising to a total of $320.138 million, up 1.8% from the approved 2021 budget of $314.5 million, as a result of action Thursday by the agency’s board.
The budget will further increase 13.5% in 2023 to a total of $363.426 million, again under Thursday’s action.
The board’s action Thursday affected three funds of the agency. In addition to the operating budget, the board approved a $13.069 million capital budget for 2022 (same for 2023); and a $6.246 million share insurance fund administrative budget in 2022 ($4.77 million in 2023). That all combines for a total agency budget of $339.453 million in 2022 and $381.265 million in 2023.
The agency’s budget provides for, among other things, a total of 1,196 full-time employees for 2022 and 1,204 full-time employees in 2023.
The operating fund is funded by operating fees paid by federal credit unions and the share insurance fund overhead transfer rate (OTR). The board approved applying $23 million in previously unspent funds to the operating fund for contracted-services expenditures. It also approved applying $15 million in cash from the fund as a credit, or reduction, to the 2022 operating fee schedule that sets the fees to be paid by individual FCUs.
The NCUA said this credit amounts to a 23.7% reduction in the operating fee rate from 2021 to 2022. The OTR, representing the percentage of the operating fund to be funded through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), is set at 62.7% for 2022, leaving 37.3% of the NCUA operating fund to be funded through FCU operating fees.
The 2022 OTR is up 40 basis points from the 2021 OTR, which is 62.3%.