Predicting NCUA’s Future State: What Comes After the Downsizing

With 25% of staff gone, a hiring freeze in place, and political pressure mounting, here’s what might be next

📺 Watch on YouTube:

🎧 Listen on your favorite podcast app: or Transistor.fm

🧭 Episode Summary

In this episode of With Flying Colors, I explore what the NCUA’s future structure could look like after its voluntary separation program (VSP) reduces its workforce by nearly a quarter. With buyouts complete, a hiring freeze active, and a one-member board navigating political and operational pressures, what’s next?

Drawing on past reorg experience and quotes from figures like Machiavelli and Petronius, I predict which offices could be consolidated, eliminated, or moved—and what those changes mean for credit unions, especially during a potential second Trump administration. This episode is part 3 in my series on NCUA’s current upheaval.

📝 Key Takeaways

• 🧯 The NCUA plans to consolidate business units, eliminate redundant functions, and shift central office duties to the regional offices.

• 📉 Offices like OMWI, Ombudsman, Ethics, and Credit Union Resources & Expansion (CURE) are prime candidates for consolidation or reassignment.

• 🔁 AMAC may return to oversight of the Southern Region, and ONES could be merged back into the regional system if regulations are revised.

• 🗂️ Functions like field of membership, previously centralized, may be re-decentralized to the regions.

• ⚠️ With a one-member board and limited regulatory flexibility, major moves may be delayed until additional board members are appointed.

• 🧠 HR was hit hardest by retirements—replacing leadership will be a significant logistical challenge for any future-state planning.

💬 Quote from the Episode

“Reorgs are painful, demoralizing, and inefficient—but sometimes necessary. The illusion of progress is a real risk unless NCUA focuses on the right structural moves.”— Mark Treichel, Host, With Flying Colors

📬 Stay in the Loop

Want more insights into NCUA’s evolving structure and how it may impact your credit union? Subscribe to the podcast or sign up for my newsletter for weekly updates, expert analysis, and regulatory predictions delivered straight to your inbox.