There are a number of changes to regulation over the last few months that impact Credit Unions directly.
Accountability Regulation
The new approved person regime fully came into force on the 7 March 2017. It is important that Credit Unions have now carried out the appropriate certification of individuals under the certification regime. Credit Unions should also have carried out training on the conduct rules for staff and volunteers. There has been numerous changes to the new regime over the last couple of years and it is worth referring directly to the PRA and FCA websites for the latest rules in this area.
Supervisory Statement
The PRA have issued an update to Supervisory Statement 2/16. This is the key supervisory statement for Credit Unions. The new version includes definitions of the various ratios for additional services. It also includes a number of important changes and clarifications and every Credit Union should be aware of these changes. The PRA have also issued PS4/17 which makes corrections to the PRA’s Credit Union rules on lending limits and investments.
Returns
Over the last few months we have seen a wide number of quarterly and annual returns. There are a wide range of different interpretations for some of the questions and we would expect further guidance to be issued. There has been a number of updates to the templates for these returns. At today’s date the latest version is the 1 February version (UPDATE:Â Later the same day after this blog was posted a new version of the template was uploaded to the PRA website and an email has been sent out to Credit Unions with further guidance on the Annual Return)
Lastly, for Credit Unions issuing mortgages, the PRA have issued PS5/17Â which updates the loan to income ratio rules.