The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) was created by the U.S. Congress in 1970 (12 U.S.C. 1752) as an “independent federal agency that insures deposits at federally insured credit unions, protects the members who own credit unions, and charters and regulates federal credit unions.” Through administration of the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (12 U.S.C. 1783) NCUA provides "up to $250,000 of federal share insurance to millions of account holders in all federal credit unions and the overwhelming majority of state-chartered credit unions.” As of December 2019, the NCUA reported that there were 5,236 federally insured credit unions, with assets totaling more than $1.57 trillion, and total loans of $1.1 trillion.
The NCUA is also a member of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, an interagency body that supports financial stability by overseeing development of uniform principles and encouraging uniformity in the supervision of depository financial institutions.
[Last updated in July of 2020 by the Wex Definitions Team]