Former National Credit Union Administration board member Geoff Bacino took the gloves off in regard to President Donald Trump and recent actions by his administration.

Bacino, a Democrat, blasted the President and especially his potential plan to consolidate financial services regulators, possibly including the NCUA.

In the most recent edition of his periodic newsletter, the Bacino Report, he called the consolidation plan a bigger threat to the industry than credit unions potentially losing their tax-exempt status. 

“The concept of consolidating the financial services regulators poses one, if not the, most existential threats to the credit union system in our times,” wrote Bacino, a credit union consultant.

Bacino, who was appointed to the NCUA board by former president Bill Clinton in 2001, said that while the sales pitch for the consolidation of regulators could sound good – including allowing credit unions to keep their tax exemption – the regulatory function likely would be operated out of the Treasury Department. 

“The results would be disastrous,” Bacino said. “The idea that credit unions would be best served by a silo manager who answers to the Treasury Secretary (or the White House) would mean the end of an independent credit union movement.”

At the NCUA’s monthly board meeting Thursday, new board Chairman Kyle Hauptman acknowledged that the flurry of executive orders recently signed by the President are impacting the federal workforce, including the NCUA.

He said some of those directives may ultimately bring changes to the agency, although there are currently more questions than answers.

“All of us at the NCUA – including the board – are diligently assessing how these announcements may impact NCUA, our operations, regulatory structure and our workforce,” Hauptman said.

Credit Union trade groups have already argued that the agency needs to keep its independence. 

Bacino said that whatever priority list Hauptman and the NCUA board focuses on may be of little concern if the White House and the Department of Government Efficiency continue its quest to downsize the federal government and reduce jobs. 

He said that while a “top-to-bottom, 360-degree examination of the scope of government” is in order, that is not what Elon Musk-led DOGE is doing. 

“It is systematically seeking to eliminate agencies and personnel based on vindictiveness and a partisan bias. The consequences of these actions will be felt for years and may not be able to be undone,” Bacino wrote.

Bacino also strongly questioned why there has not been more opposition to the recent “bloodletting.” He said Democrats are not able to do much as they don’t control the White House, the Senate or the House of Representatives. 

“So the responsibility now falls to the judicial system,” Bacino said. “But should the White House choose to ignore a legal decision handed down by a court, what guarantee is there that the decision will be enforced? And by whom?”

“The concept of consolidating the financial services regulators poses one, if not the, most existential threats to the credit union system in our times.”

 – Geoff Bacino
Former board member
NCUA