1532 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 5 / Friday, January 8, 2021 / Notices 

Administration. The first day will 

adjourn at 3:00 p.m. EST. The second 

day of the meeting will begin on January 

26, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. EST and continue 

the Commissioners’ deliberations on the 

draft Final Report chapters and 

recommendations to be included in the 

final report. This second day will 

adjourn at 3:00 p.m. EST. 

Meeting Accessibility: Pursuant to 

Federal statutes and regulations (the 

FACA, the Sunshine Act, and 41 CFR 

102–3.140 through 102–3.165) and the 

availability of space, the virtual meeting 

is open to the public January 25, 2021, 

and January 26, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 

3:00 p.m. EST. Members of the public 

wishing to receive a link to the live 

stream webcast for viewing and audio 

access to the virtual meeting should 

register on the Commission’s website, 

https://www.nscai.gov. Registration will 

be available from January 12, 2021 

through January 22, 2021. Members of 

the media should RSVP to the 

Commission’s press office at press@

nscai.gov. 

Special Accommodations: Individuals 

requiring special accommodations to 

access the public meeting should 

contact the DFO, see the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section for contact 

information, no later than January 19, 

2021, so that appropriate arrangements 

can be made. 

Access to Records of the Meeting: 

Pursuant to FACA requirements, the 

meeting materials for the virtual 

meetings will be available for public 

inspection on the Commission’s website 

at https://www.nscai.gov on January 19, 

2021. 

Written Statements: Written 

comments may be submitted to the DFO 

via email to: nscai-dfo@nscai.gov in 

either Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word 

format. The DFO will compile all 

written submissions and provide them 

to the Commissioners for consideration. 

Please note that all submitted comments 

will be treated as public documents and 

will be made available for public 

inspection, including, but not limited 

to, being posted on the Commission’s 

website. 

Dated: January 5, 2021. 

Michael Gable, 

Chief of Staff. 

[FR Doc. 2021–00126 Filed 1–7–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3610–Y8–P 

NATIONAL CREDIT UNION 

ADMINISTRATION 

Request for Information on NCUA 

Communications and Transparency 

AGENCY: National Credit Union 

Administration (NCUA). 

ACTION: Notice; request for information 

(RFI). 

SUMMARY: The NCUA is seeking 

comments and information from 

interested parties on the NCUA’s 

communication methods and related 

initiatives to promote efficiency and 

increase transparency. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before March 9, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted using one of the methods 

below (Please do not send comments 

through multiple methods). Mail: Please 

direct written comments to Melane 

Conyers-Ausbrooks, Acting Secretary of 

the Board, National Credit Union 

Administration, 1775 Duke Street, 

Alexandria, VA 22314. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Public Inspection: You may view all 

public comments on the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http://

www.regulations.gov as submitted, 

except for those we cannot post for 

technical reasons. The NCUA will not 

edit or remove any identifying or 

contact information from the public 

comments submitted. Due to social 

distancing measures, the usual 

opportunity to inspect paper copies of 

comments is unavailable. After social 

distancing measures are relaxed, visitors 

may make an appointment to review 

paper copies by calling (703) 518–6330 

or emailing oeacmail@ncua.gov. 

All comments received must include 

the agency name for this rulemaking. 

All comments received will be posted 

without change to the NCUA’s websites 

(www.ncua.gov and 

www.mycreditunion.gov)—including 

any personal information provided—for 

public inspection. Spam or marketing 

materials will be discarded without 

publication. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben 

Hardaway, National Credit Union 

Administration, Office of External 

Affairs and Communications, 1775 Duke 

Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, telephone 

(703) 518–6333, and email bhardaway@

ncua.gov. Media inquiries should be 

directed to NCUA’s Office of External 

Affairs and Communications at (703) 

518–6330 or oeacmail@ncua.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

NCUA’s examination and supervision of 

federally insured credit unions and 

enforcement of applicable rules and 

regulations is designed to protect the 

safety and soundness of the credit union 

system and ensure consumer financial 

protection. To accomplish this mission, 

the NCUA must be able to communicate 

efficiently and effectively with financial 

institutions. 

Stakeholders learn about the agency’s 

mission, values, policies, initiatives, 

and strategic goals primarily through 

NCUA.gov. While the NCUA’s audience 

is diverse, each user has the same basic 

need: To obtain information to make 

important financial and business 

decisions quickly and easily. Outdated, 

duplicative, or hard-to-find content 

reduces the effectiveness of the NCUA’s 

communications with federally insured 

credit unions and increases their overall 

regulatory burden as they must spend 

time and staff resources sorting through 

the NCUA’s communications in order to 

comply with regulatory and supervisory 

guidance. 

Overview of Request for Information 

The NCUA is seeking public input on 

how to make its communications with 

federally insured credit unions more 

effective, consistent, and clear to 

minimize unnecessary regulatory and 

operation burdens as much as possible 

and promote compliance with all 

applicable laws and regulations. While 

the NCUA’s communications are 

essential to fulfill its statutory mandate, 

the agency recognizes the amount of 

information it provides to credit unions 

can create challenges and may impose 

unintended burdens for institutions. 

The agency intends to remove outdated, 

duplicative and superseded regulatory 

and supervisory guidance from its 

website. 

Additionally, the NCUA is asking its 

stakeholders to suggest initiatives that 

would maximize efficiency and 

minimize burdens associated with 

obtaining information on federal laws, 

regulations, policies, guidance, and 

other materials relevant to federally 

insured credit unions. 

Forms of Communication 

The NCUA uses many forms of 

communication to inform credit unions 

about regulations, policies and 

guidance, industry data and educational 

materials, and other news and updates. 

The agency’s primary communications 

channel is its website, NCUA.gov, 

which provides information on many 

agency activities. Some forms of 

communication may be used to 

disseminate more than one type of 

information, and some materials may be 

distributed through multiple channels. 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 5 / Friday, January 8, 2021 / Notices 1533 

These forms of communication include, 

but are not limited to: 

Regulations, Policies, Procedures, and 

Guidance 

• Federal Register: The NCUA 

publishes in the Federal Register 

proposed and final rules, requests for 

information, and other notices, 

including statements of policy and 

certain guidance or interpretations. 

• Unified Agenda: Biannually 

through the Unified Agenda process, the 

NCUA publicizes an agenda of 

regulations to inform the public of its 

regulatory actions and to enhance 

public participation in the rulemaking 

process. 

• Letters to Credit Unions: These 

provide guidance on specific NCUA 

policies and procedures, compliance, 

governance, and other timely issues that 

affect all federally insured credit 

unions. 

• Letters to Federal Credit Unions: 

These provide guidance on specific 

NCUA policies and procedures, 

compliance, governance, and other 

timely issues that affect only credit 

unions with a federal charter. 

• Risk Alerts: These detail practices 

or external threats that potentially are 

significant risks to the safety and 

soundness of the credit union system. 

• Regulatory Alerts: The NCUA uses 

regulatory alerts to provide guidance on 

rules and regulations from other 

agencies that all credit unions must 

comply with. 

• Supervisory Letters: While geared 

towards the NCUA’s examiners to 

provide instructions and information on 

a range of supervisory and regulatory 

issues, these letters are posted on the 

NCUA’s website for the benefit of credit 

unions and the public. 

• Accounting Bulletins: The NCUA 

uses Accounting Bulletins to provide 

guidance and instructions on how 

changes in generally accepted 

accounting principles and other 

regulatory initiatives affect how credit 

unions report these items in their 

financial statements. 

• Corporate Credit Union Guidance 

Letters: The NCUA’s Office of National 

Examinations and Supervision issues 

letters to inform corporate credit unions 

about specific NCUA policies and 

procedures, compliance, governance, 

and other timely issues. 

• Consumer Financial Protection 

Updates: These are used to announce 

new activity on consumer compliance 

laws, regulations and guidance. 

• Examination Manuals 

D Online Examiners Guide 

D National Supervision Policy Manual 

D Chartering and Field of Membership 

Manual 

D Fair Lending Guide 

D Federal Consumer Financial 

Protection Guide 

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

or Questions and Answers (Q&As) 

• NCUA Open Board Meetings and 

Associated Documents. 

D Board Meeting Agendas 

D Board Action Memorandum 

D Board Action Bulletins 

News and Updates 

• Press Releases 

• Speeches 

• Testimony 

• Statements 

• Annual Reports to Congress 

• Events Calendar 

Industry Data, Educational Materials, 

and Outreach 

• Credit Union and Corporate Call 

Report Data 

• Quarterly State Map Reviews 

• Industry at a Glance 

• CUSO at a Glance 

• Chartering and Merger Activity 

Reports 

• Manuals and Guides 

• NCUA Videos, Webcasts, Webinars 

General Communications 

• NCUA.gov website and 

MyCreditUnion.gov 

• Social Media (such as Twitter, 

Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube) 

• NCUA Express Email Subscriptions 

Request for Comment 

To reduce the burden for institutions 

and others seeking information, both in 

terms of expending fewer resources to 

find relevant information and 

decreasing the amount of information 

that requires review, the NCUA is 

seeking input on how best to streamline 

and improve communication with its 

stakeholders. The NCUA encourages 

comments from all interested members 

of the public, including but not limited 

to, federally insured credit unions, other 

financial institutions or companies, 

credit union service organizations, 

vendors, individual credit union 

members and consumers, consumer 

groups, and other members of the 

financial services industry. Please be as 

specific as possible to allow the NCUA 

to evaluate comments more effectively. 

In addition to general feedback on the 

NCUA’s communication practices and 

related initiatives, the agency requests 

input on the following specific topics 

and questions related to its 

communications and transparency: 

D The NCUA issues, or has issued, 

regulatory and supervisory guidance 

under a variety of different letterheads, 

including Letters to Credit Unions, 

Letters to Federal Credit Unions, 

Corporate Credit Union Guidance 

Letters, Accounting Bulletins, Risk 

Alerts, Regulatory Alerts, Consumer 

Financial Protection Updates, and 

Supervisory Letters. Is this practice 

effective? Should the agency consider 

consolidating its supervisory guidance 

into fewer letterheads? 

D How effective are the NCUA’s 

current forms of communication, such 

as press releases, social media content, 

and email distributions? Which of these 

are the most or the least effective? Are 

there other methods of communication 

the NCUA should consider? 

D Which communications vehicles are 

best suited for informing federally 

insured credit unions about new policy 

initiatives, laws and regulations, 

guidance, background or educational 

materials, news and other updates? 

D How appropriate is the timing and 

frequency of the NCUA’s 

communication? 

D Is it clear to federally insured credit 

unions which of the agency’s 

communication is supervisory in nature 

and which is purely informational? 

Questions Related To Improving the 

Agency’s Websites and Online 

Resources 

D How can the NCUA improve the 

NCUA.gov and MyCreditUnion.gov 

websites? Does the website search 

function provide helpful and relevant 

results? What aspects of the NCUA.gov 

and MyCreditUnion.gov websites are the 

most helpful? 

D How often do you access the 

financial performance, chartering and 

merger data available on NCUA.gov? Is 

the current format useful to you? How 

can we improve the presentation of data 

online? 

D What other financial, business, or 

economic data websites do you use? 

What do you like about how they 

present their financial or economic 

data? What features should the NCUA 

consider when improving its 

presentation of financial performance 

and other data to stakeholders online? 

Commenters are also encouraged to 

discuss any other relevant issues they 

believe the NCUA should consider with 

respect to the agency’s communications 

and websites. 

Authority: 67 FR 63452 (October 11, 2002). 

By the National Credit Union 

Administration on December 30, 2020. 

Melane Conyers-Ausbrooks, 

Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. 2020–29270 Filed 1–7–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7535–01–P 


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