In this emergency update of With Flying Colors, Mark breaks down a newly proposed NCUA rule that could meaningfully reduce barriers to serving on a federal credit union board.

The proposal would allow federal credit unions to reimburse or directly pay reasonable dependent care costs for volunteer officials when those costs are incurred while attending board meetings or performing official duties — including, potentially, training and conferences.

This is a narrow but important change that reflects rising childcare and eldercare costs, declining volunteerism, and the increasing demands placed on credit union boards.

Mark also shares brief updates on the Central Liquidity Facility (CLF), NCUA’s regulatory simplification efforts, and what’s coming next on the podcast following recent discussions at a credit union conference cruise.

🔍 What the Proposed Rule Would Do

• Applies to federal credit unions only (state charters follow state law)
• Allows reimbursement or direct payment of:
  • Childcare
  • Adult dependent care (elder care, disabled dependents)
• Covers costs incurred while:
  • Attending board meetings
  • Performing official duties (which may include training and conferences)
• Applies only to volunteer officials, not paid executives

🚫 What the Rule Does Not Do

• Does not allow reimbursement for:
  • Lost wages
  • Paid leave
  • Indirect costs of volunteering
• Does not change compensation rules under the Federal Credit Union Act
• Does not require credit unions to reimburse these costs — policies remain optional and discretionary
• Does not change IRS tax treatment — consult tax professionals for reporting requirements

💡 Why This Matters

• Childcare costs have increased more than 200% since 1990
• Volunteer participation has declined significantly since pre-pandemic levels
• Federal credit union boards:
  • Must meet at least 12 times per year
  • Cannot generally be compensated
• This proposal may help:
  • Attract younger and working-age professionals
  • Support caregivers and single parents
  • Improve diversity of experience and perspective on boards

🧭 What NCUA Is Asking for Public Comment On

NCUA is inviting industry feedback on:

• Whether reimbursement should be limited to temporary or incremental costs
• Whether training and conference travel should clearly qualify as official duties
• Documentation and internal control standards
• Best practices from state-chartered credit unions

Credit unions and board members are encouraged to submit comments during the open comment period.

🔜 What’s Coming Next on the Podcast

• A follow-up episode with Mark’s team discussing:
  • NCUA’s 2025 Supervisory Priorities Letter
  • What it really means for exams and operations
• Coverage of NCUA’s upcoming webinar on supervisory priorities (February 19)
• Continued “emergency update” episodes when time-sensitive issues break

www.marktreichel.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-treichel/

In this special preview episode of With Flying Colors, Mark Treichel tees up an upcoming live, on-stage discussion from the Florida Q’s Cruise with team members Steve Farr and Todd Miller.

Just days before the cruise, NCUA released its 2026 Supervisory Priorities Letter, and as always, that letter gives us important clues about what examiners will be focused on in the year ahead — and just as importantly, what’s driving examiner behavior behind the scenes.

This episode serves as a primer for the deeper, post-cruise discussion, where we’ll incorporate real-time feedback and questions from credit union leaders attending the cruise.

🧭 Big Picture Theme: NCUA in Chaos

Before diving into technical priorities, Mark frames the conversation around what many credit unions are experiencing operationally:

• Leadership instability and fewer board actions
• Retirements, buyouts, and staffing losses
• Revolving and often less-experienced examiners
• Exams prioritized over approvals and strategic requests

Bottom line:

📌 What’s in the 2026 Supervisory Priorities Letter?

Mark walks through the major categories NCUA highlighted and why they matter:

🟦 Lending / Credit Risk

• Delinquencies and charge-offs at decade highs
• Focus on underwriting, concentrations, and workouts
• Continued scrutiny of commercial real estate and indirect lending

🟦 Liquidity & Interest Rate Risk

• Stress testing assumptions under closer review
• Structural liquidity constraints getting more attention
• Alignment between balance sheet strategy and risk appetite

🟦 Earnings & Capital Adequacy

• Sustainability of earnings under stress scenarios
• Capital planning tied directly to risk profiles
• More forward-looking analysis expected in exams

🟦 Payment Systems (Back as a Headline Topic)

• Real-time payments and complex integrations
• Vendor risk, data exposure, and cyber vulnerabilities
• Governance and internal controls over payments ecosystems

🟦 Fraud Prevention and Detection

• Internal controls and separation of duties
• Insider abuse explicitly called out
• Exam procedures being updated to reflect evolving fraud risks

🟦 BSA / AML Compliance Risk Management

• Shift away from broad consumer compliance narrative
• Stronger focus on risk-based AML programs
• Programs must be tailored to actual institutional risk

🔄 What’s Notably Different from Prior Years?

Mark also highlights important shifts compared to earlier supervisory letters:

• Cybersecurity is no longer a standalone headline — now embedded in Operational Risk and Payments
• Consumer financial protection is not emphasized as a top category
• Fraud and payment systems return after being absent for several years
• Governance expectations are increasingly embedded in every risk area

These changes align with what many credit unions are already experiencing in exams — more findings tied to process, oversight, and documentation, not just numbers.

🎤 What’s Coming After the Cruise

During the Florida Q’s Cruise, Mark, Steve, and Todd will be discussing:

• What credit unions are actually seeing in recent exams
• Where examiner expectations are rising fastest
• How governance findings are being framed
• What boards should be asking management right now
• How to manage regulatory uncertainty proactively

After the cruise, a full follow-up episode will bring those insights back to the broader audience.

🎯 Key Takeaway

The risks themselves haven’t changed dramatically — but NCUA’s capacity, processes, and delivery of supervision have.

Credit unions that adapt their governance, documentation, and strategic planning to that reality will be better positioned to manage both exam outcomes and approval delays in 2026 and beyond.

www.marktreichel.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-treichel/

The clash between President Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has now expanded beyond interest rates — and into a $2.5 billion building renovation at the Fed.

Some see waste.
Some see politics.
Most people just see a number that’s hard to comprehend.

In this episode, I take a middle-ground look at what’s really going on:

• Why large government construction projects almost always cost more than planned
• Why political egos inevitably get involved
• And why $2.5 billion still deserves serious public context and scrutiny

Using real-world comparisons — from stacks of dollar bills reaching into space, to thousands of apartments, to centuries of spending at $1,000 an hour — we reset the conversation around scale, transparency, and accountability, without turning it into a partisan fight.

Because when budgets get this big, math matters more than megaphones.

Key Topics Covered

• Why billion-dollar numbers break our intuition
• Construction overruns: normal, but not meaningless
• How political power struggles complicate budget debates
• The opportunity cost of multi-billion-dollar projects
• Why public institutions owe the public real financial context

Who Should Listen

• Credit union and bank leaders
• Board members
• Policy and compliance professionals
• Anyone who wants less political theater and more financial reality