Samantha: Hello, this is Samantha Shares.
This episode covers Chairman Hauptman on Regulation by Enforcement.
The following is an audio version of that document.
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And now the document.
Chairman Hauptman On Regulation by Enforcement
ALEXANDRIA, VA, October 1, 2025 â The National Credit Union
Administration Chairman Kyle S.
Hauptman issued the following statement about N C U Aâs No
Regulation-by-Enforcement Policy:
Todayâs policy statement fulfills a goal listed back in January upon being
designated as Chairman: âCodifying our procedures to protect Americans
from regulation-by-enforcement.
For example, no enforcement action should ever setâor even clarifyâ policy.
In America and other free societies, the sequence is: set speed limits,
then give speeding tickets (no one has any obligation to be
aware of someone elseâs ticket).â
To be clear, this agency has a good track record regarding
regulation-by-enforcement, so this statement shouldnât be viewed as being
the result of any recent N C U A actions.
After all, itâs counterproductive for a deposit insurer to engage in
regulation-by-enforcement against the same institutions we insure.
That said, itâs important to put in writing a policy of fairness, whereby
government employees give regulated credit unions the same due-process that
they, under civil servant protections, rightly expect in their own careers.
Todayâs statement is born partly of my frustrating interactions with
regulators, both in my time on Capitol Hill and in the private sector.
I know that millions of others share the frustration of being told âif
you want to figure out the rules, look at our prior settlements.â
Americans expect better from their government, including
financial regulators.
No Regulation-by-Enforcement Policy Statement
Regulation-by-enforcement is unethical and not permitted at N C U A.
Enforcement actions shall only occur in the case of clear and significant
violations of law or regulation.
Therefore, no person or entity regulated by N C U A has any obligation to be
aware of any prior N C U A enforcement actions because no new policy is
ever set via an enforcement action.
No enforcement action, nor the timing of enforcement actions, shall be motivated by
trying to boost the agencyâs enforcement totals or get the enforcement done
in a certain fiscal or calendar year.
Enforcement is a necessary tool, but is not, by itself, an
accomplishment or a metric of success.
Our goal is for credit unions to operate safely and soundly and in compliance
with applicable laws and regulations.
We will seek to remedy any such problems whenever we can without
needing to use enforcement action.
The goal is to resolve any problems, not to issue press releases, rack up
enforcement numbers or improve the post-N C U A career options of agency staff.
We donât set âspeed trapsâ to increase enforcement totals.
A guiding principle here is avoiding double-standards.
In their own careers, civil servants are protected against arbitrarily poor
performance reviews, allegations of misconduct, wrongful termination and other
things that could harm their career path.
In turn, government employees must extend the same due process
protections to those they regulate.
If N C U A finds a harmful practice that threatens our mission or is
otherwise injurious or abusive, and it is not currently addressed by law or
regulation, then our next step is to consider rulemaking or other remedy.
As is the norm in America, the sequence of events at N C U A is: one, publish rules,
two, then and only then, enforce them.
This concludes the document.
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This is Samantha Shares and we thank you for listening.