CLEVELAND – A local credit union executive this morning decried the “flood” of new regulations being navigated by his and other credit unions and told lawmakers during a congressional hearing here this morning that the industry is lobbying NCUA for a temporary halt to new rules and regulations.
“Even though natural person credit unions did not cause the financial crisis, they have been subjected to a flood of regulations that create an unnecessary burden without any measure of the effectiveness of these changes,” Stan Barnes, president of $150 million CSE FCU, told members of the House Financial Services Committee during a field hearing on examination challenges facing community financial institutions.
He cited “more than 160 new rules and regulations from 27 different federal agencies since 2008.” Additionally,” said Barnes, “there are at least 27 rulemaking proposals pending at various agencies, including (NCUA), the Federal Reserve, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Treasury’s FinCEN, and the Federal Trade Commission - - among others.”
In light of the deluge, the credit union lobby has called on NCUA to institute a six-month moratorium on new regulations, so that credit unions may implement those rules already enacted and review those being proposed, said Barnes, whose credit union, the one-time Canton School Employees credit union, now represents area teachers and school employees.
The credit union executive also said many credit unions have found NCUA’s examiners to be heavy-handed in light of the record losses during the financial crisis to the extent that some are “micro-managing” credit unions. “Quite simply, regulators are dictating the business of operating a credit union,” said Barnes, who endorsed a legislation that would give credit unions and banks a greater ability to appeal their examinations.
