A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish, MCU VP Risk Management

With the realization that some credit unions are starting to plan for early 2021 annual meetings, and those meetings are not safe to hold in-person in many areas, NCUA released a letter recently that provides details on how to handle meeting options, bylaw revisions, voting, and more.

The new NCUA letter on extending annual meeting flexibility into 2021 offers detailed information on how a federal credit union can adjust their bylaws to allow such flexibility with a 2/3 vote of their board and no need for further approval by NCUA. The agency states that credit unions should consider adjusting their bylaws to include not just the annual member meeting, but also their regular in-person board meetings and special member meeting for expulsion consideration.

In addition, the letter provides details on the voting option the credit union needs to select in their bylaws to allow for electronic voting. When you read it, I would encourage you to consider your credit union’s needs in the next several months as well as for your 2021 member meeting.

And, if you have a state charter? The Montana Division of Banking provides model bylaws that provide language to adopt for virtual meetings and participation. A 2/3 vote of the board is required as is written approval by the Division of any changes to the bylaws. The state also provides commentary on electronic voting and voting methods on page 23 of the above-linked model bylaws.