Capital Briefs: Bankers Decry Plan to Expand Credit Union Lending

The banking industry has blasted a recent government proposal to let credit unions make more commercial loans, saying banks and thrifts would lose business to their tax-exempt competitors.

The American Bankers Association, the Independent Bankers Association of America, and America's Community Bankers "are adamantly opposed to any expansion in business lending powers for credit unions," the trade groups' leaders wrote in a letter Tuesday to the National Credit Union Administration.

"Credit unions are intended to serve people, not financial enterprises," the letter said. "It is totally inappropriate to extend the tax subsidy conferred on credit unions by Congress to finance commercial endeavors." The delinquency rate on business loans by credit unions is five times higher than the rate for bank commercial loans, the letter added. "NCUA should be taking action to limit business lending risk, not expand it."

In July, the NCUA proposed doubling to $100,000 the maximum amount that credit unions may lend to businesses without triggering restrictive commercial lending rules.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER