The National Credit Union Administration Board held its ninth and final open meeting of 2024 and approved the agency’s 2025‒2026 operating budgets and a final rule on succession planning.

2025 and 2026 Budgets Approved

The Board unanimously approved the NCUA’s Operating, Capital, and National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund administrative budgets for 2025 and 2026.

“Give-and-take is an essential part of any organization’s policymaking and budgeting processes, and the budget before us reflects that principle in action,” NCUA Chairman Todd M. Harper said. “This funding plan demonstrates the NCUA’s strong financial stewardship, and it will allow the agency to effectively execute its safety and soundness, consumer financial protection, and other statutory responsibilities over the next two years.”

America's Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle noted “for too many years, the NCUA has been a runaway train of frivolous spending when they should be finding ways to cut costs. We appreciate the agency taking another look at its staff needs and reducing that proposal, but we still have concerns with its spending. With this final budget, the agency isn’t reducing or being more efficient in its spending. Instead, it simply reduces the cash buffer in the Operating Fund. While America’s Credit Unions supports a thorough review of agency cash needs and a return of surplus funds to credit unions, this is not a sustainable strategy. Eventually these surplus credits will dry up and credit unions will be stuck with the bill.”

Combined, the 2025 Operating, Capital, and Share Insurance Fund administrative budgets will be $395.4 million and 1,255 staff positions. This is $37.7 million and six positions lower than the staff draft budget. The operating fee is 1.2 percent lower than the staff draft budget. The combined budget for 2026 is $419.5 million, with 1,263 staff positions. This is $49.0 million and nine positions lower than the 2026 staff draft budget.

The year-over-year increase in the 2025 budget is now 2.5 percent, which is 10 percentage points less than initially proposed in the staff draft budget. The 2026 budget has dropped as well. Instead of a projected annual increase of 8.2 percent, the final 2026 budget increase is now 6.1 percent.

Additional information on the NCUA’s budget can be found on the Budget and Supplementary Materials page on NCUA.gov.

Succession Planning Final Rule Will Reduce Unplanned Mergers

The NCUA Board unanimously approved a final rule that will require federally insured credit union boards of directors to establish succession planning processes for key positions.

Said Chairman Harper, “We know that the failure to plan for management and key decision-maker transitions comes with a cost. The potential costs range from an unanticipated merger of a credit union or its failure when key personnel depart. For small, low-income, and minority depository institution credit unions, as well as those that support under-resourced urban and rural communities, this situation happens more than any of us would like. This final rule on succession planning establishes a way for the NCUA to address one of the most common causes for unplanned and unforced credit union mergers. It also ensures that smaller institutions remain the cornerstone of our nation’s federally insured credit union system.”

The final rule requires the board of a federally insured credit union to establish a written succession plan that addresses the specified positions that are vital to the operation and management of the credit union, and regularly review these plans to ensure they are current. The final rule also requires newly appointed members of the board to be familiar with those plans within six months after their appointment. For federally insured, state-chartered credit unions in states that have established succession planning requirements, the NCUA will defer to the state’s requirements if no conflict exists between the final rule and the state’s rules.

Smaller credit unions can develop succession plans by leveraging the succession plan template included in this rulemaking, getting assistance through the Small Credit Union and Minority Depository Institutions Support Program, and completing online training available through the NCUA’s Learning Management System.

To help ensure that federally insured credit unions have the necessary time to develop their succession plans, the effective date of the final rule is January 1, 2026.

Follow @TheNCUA on X, and access Board Action Memorandums and NCUA rule changes at www.ncua.gov. The NCUA also live streams, archives, and posts videos of open Board meetings online.