Following an order by the newly minted administration of President Donald Trump that puts a freeze on regulatory rulemaking, the National Credit Union Administration determined that the order does not apply to it.

According to NCUA spokesman John Fairbanks, the agency determined that the order does not apply to it as the NCUA is an independent federal financial regulator. However, Fairbanks stated that the agency will adhere to the "spirit" of the order.

On the same day that Trump was inaugurated as U.S. president, U.S. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus issued a memo instructing regulators to freeze any work on draft rules, stop the flow of any proposed regulations to the Federal Register and delay the implementation of any final rules by 60 days. However, some confusion arose as to which agencies the order would apply to, as regulators such as Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC and the Securities and Exchange Commission — along with the NCUA — are all considered independent from the executive branch.

For its part, the NCUA said that it continues to work to "decrease regulatory burdens," stating that the rules it has imposed since May 2016 have all provided federally insured credit unions with regulatory relief.