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NCUA Board Member Tanya F. Otsuka Remarks at the 2025 Governmental Affairs Conference

As Prepared for Delivery on March 4, 2025

Thank you to Jim, Carrie, and everyone at America’s Credit Unions for the invitation. Special thanks to the convention center staff and everyone behind the scenes who helped put this event together and are making sure it runs smoothly. And of course, thank you all in the audience for being here.

It is an honor to serve on the Board of the NCUA and to see the great work credit unions are doing for their members every day. The NCUA’s mission of protecting the cooperative credit system is imperative for the millions of families that rely on credit unions for a checking account, buy a car or a home, or save for retirement.

Congress has entrusted the NCUA with the responsibility to protect credit union members and the credit union system, and our ability to do so depends on a strong, independent agency, with dedicated staff who understand the unique role that credit unions play in our economy.

Our independence is critical to maintaining confidence and stability in the credit union system. If you put your money in a credit union with the words “insured by the NCUA” emblazoned on the door, you can trust that you won’t lose your life savings if that credit union fails. Share insurance creates confidence in the credit union system, which not only protects Americans’ hard-earned money, but also helps credit unions attract new members and continue to grow.

"Congress has entrusted the NCUA with the responsibility to protect credit union members and the credit union system, and our ability to do so depends on a strong, independent agency, with dedicated staff who understand the unique role that credit unions play in our economy. Our independence is critical to maintaining confidence and stability in the credit union system."

As the primary federal regulator of credit unions, the NCUA understands the unique characteristics of credit unions and their members. Our independence from politics and distinction from other financial regulators allows us to focus on what matters to the credit union system. It also allows us to maintain long-term stability, mitigate risks and act quickly during a crisis, and prudently manage the share insurance fund.

We must not lose sight of why these guardrails are in place. The NCUA, as we know it today, is the product of one too many dark periods in our nation’s history. During the Great Depression, the stock market crashed, our economy collapsed, and thousands of banks failed, wiping out many Americans’ entire life savings. In response, Congress created independent financial agencies and consumer protections – like deposit insurance – to promote stability and provide a safety net for American families. Congress also encouraged the creation of federal credit unions under the Federal Credit Union Act of 1934, allowing more people of modest means to access affordable credit, secure their savings, and ultimately begin to recover from financial hardship. The credit union movement continued to grow, and in 1970, Congress established the NCUA as an independent agency to charter and supervise federal credit unions and manage the Share Insurance Fund, which extended the deposit insurance safety net to credit union members.

Fast-forward to the 2008 Financial Crisis, when years of deregulation and lax oversight paved the way for risky and unethical financial practices on Wall Street to wreak havoc on our economy. As financial institutions failed, markets crashed, and businesses shuttered, everyday Americans were left holding the bag. Millions of families lost their homes. While credit unions fared better than banks overall, credit unions were not spared. Between 2008 and 2012, the NCUA oversaw over 130 involuntary liquidations and mergers. To