Bankers Back Off Underserved Battle

WASHINGTON -- The American Bankers Association announced Thursday it has agreed to dismiss its lawsuit in Utah federal court challenging NCUA's underserved expansion program. The action comes eight months after NCUA agreed to rescind an underserved expansion granted America First FCU, the main target of the bankers' lawsuit. The ABA claimed that the Federal CU Act prohibits community chartered credit unions, like America First FCU, from participating in the underserved program. Since then, NCUA has passed a new rule expressly barring community charters from participating in the underserved program. About 200 underserved expansions already approved for community charters were allowed to stand. It is unclear whether the bankers will challenge any of those.