Credit Union Exam Solutions Presents With Flying Colors

For the first time in its history, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has zero board members. Not one. Not two. Zero.

In this emergency episode, Mark Treichel walks through how the agency got here and, more importantly, what it means for credit unions in the meantime.

Kyle Hauptman’s six-year term expired in August 2025. Under the Federal Credit Union Act, a board member may keep serving after a term expires until a successor has qualified — which is why Hauptman was able to serve a full year past his expiration date. On August 7, 2026, the Senate confirmed John Crews. Three days later, Hauptman resigned and took the oath for his new post at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Crews has been confirmed, but he has not been sworn in — and confirmed is not the same as seated.

The finish line is the oath of office, and the oath cannot happen until the commission comes over from the White House with the President’s signature. That paperwork routes through NCUA’s Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), to the general counsel and chief of staff, and then to a swearing-in ceremony in the NCUA boardroom. Until that happens, the seat is unfilled. Mark’s argument: the gap was entirely avoidable. The statute let Hauptman stay. He left anyway.

The agency does not stop, because NCUA’s delegations of authority were built for exactly this kind of situation. Mark treated the delegations as his operating bible during his 33 years at the agency, and he walks through what they cover and what they do not.

What keeps running: examinations and supervision on the normal cycle, findings, Documents of Resolution (DORs), Letters of Understanding and Agreement (LUAs), temporary cease-and-desist orders at the regional director level, charters, and mergers.

What stops: rulemaking. Conservatorships and liquidations, which sit with the board. Asset guarantees. Loss resolutions above the delegated dollar thresholds. Appointments, removals, and promotions of senior personnel. Budget changes beyond a narrow reprogramming authority. And appeals that have reached the board level — the last rung of the appeal ladder is dark until a member is sworn in.

Mark also addresses the argument some are making that a standing continuity delegation lets the executive director step into the board’s shoes. His read: that delegation contemplates a national emergency in which the sitting board members are unable to serve. This is not a national emergency. This is unsigned paperwork — a different thing entirely, and not a basis for staff to exercise authority the Act reserves to the board.

Also covered: the quorum question hanging over the 11 final regulations issued just before the departure; the ongoing Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka litigation and what a win would mean; the Schedule C shuffle underway in the chairman’s office; and what an incoming single-member chairman faces walking into an agency that has already lost a large share of its most experienced staff.

This is a short-shelf-life episode by design. It may be resolved by the time you hear it. The structural lesson will not be.

Credit Union Exam Solutions is a team of former NCUA executives and examiners who help credit unions prepare for, manage, and appeal examinations.