On April 7, 2026, the NCUA announced its ninth round of proposed regulatory changes associated with NCUA’s Deregulation Project. The project is an ongoing review of NCUA’s regulations to ensure regulations are focused on credit unions’ safety, soundness, and resilience.
The NCUA is requesting comments on one proposal related to chartering and field of membership eligibility. The proposed rule would remove the automatic disqualification of associational groups that require the purchase of a product or service as a condition of membership. Instead, eligibility will not be automatically denied solely for this reason and more holistic evaluation would be allowed.
According to the NCUA, the proposed changes would alleviate burden and provide regulatory relief to single associational groups and multiple common bond federal credit unions of all sizes in seeking to include associations that may have some customer-client component.
Read the NCUA’s announcement here.
The proposed rule can be found here.