D'Amours seen as shoo-in for post.

Norman D'Amours, tapped by President Clinton to be chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, appears to have the job sewn up.

Sen. Donald W. Reigle Jr., D-Mich., the only member of the Senate Banking Committee present at the hearing, warmly greeted Mr. D'Amours.

'I think he'd do an excellent job. I want to move on with this nomination expeditiously," he said.

In his statement, Mr. D'Amours indicated that his policies would be in line with President Clinton's desire of strengthening community development banking,

The regulator, "must balance supervision and regulation with a recognition of the historic role of credit unions in providing credit to those in our country underserved by other institutions." he said.

Mr. Riegle asked Mr. D'Amours to address several charges made by the banking industry. A major charge is that credit unions enjoy, an unfair advantage because they are exempt from federal income taxes, and that they have added new members by expanding their "common bond."

The common bond defines a credit unions membership.

"There are think, a small minority of people in banking and thrift industry who will always find some reason to explain their lack of success and blame someone other than themselves," he said. Mr. D'Amours added that he has not seen an example of an unreasonable common bond expansion.

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