NCUA Issues Final Rule Amending Chartering and Field of Membership Rules

Following years of litigation, the NCUA recently issued a final rule amending its Chartering and Field of Membership (FOM) rules, effective September 14, 2020.  (A proposed rule had been published in November 2019.)  The rule results in part from an August 2019 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that had directed remand to the NCUA for additional explanation of its proposal to revise the core area service requirement.  

The NCUA has readopted a provision permitting applicants to designate a Combined Statistical Areas (CSAs) or a singular, contiguous portion of a CSA as a well-defined local community (WDLC). The CSA or singular, contiguous portion must have a population of 2.5 million people or fewer to be designated as a WDLC. The NCUA has also added a provision regarding “potential discrimination in the FOM selection for CSAs and CBSAs.”