Credit Union Exam Solutions Presents With Flying Colors

In this episode of With Flying Colors, Mark Treichel walks through NCUA’s May 6 conservatorship of Jackson Area Federal Credit Union of Jackson, Mississippi. Drawing on 33 years at NCUA — including responsibility for some of the agency’s largest historical conservatorships — Mark analyzes the publicly available call report data and explains why this case is unusual.

The credit union reported 9.2% net worth at year-end 2025, alongside loan-to-assets of 27.8%, $108 million in cash on deposit at correspondent banks, and $41.8 million in non-member deposits. Mark works through why these patterns, taken together, are statistically extreme — Jackson Area is the only large credit union in the country with non-member deposits over 25% and loan-to-assets under 30%.

The episode also covers a roughly $2.13 million Q4 net worth entry that lifted capital back above the well-capitalized threshold against just $42,000 in reported quarterly income, the timing of NCUA’s filing of an estimated March 31 call report the day before the conservatorship, and what the language in the press release may signal.

Mark closes with five lessons for credit union boards: healthy ratios are not safety; the income statement can tell the truth the balance sheet hides; non-member deposits without lending growth deserve scrutiny; equity entries without income demand explanation; and NCUA examinations are not fraud audits.

This is a solo episode — Mark’s analysis is based entirely on public data, with no insider information.