WASHINGTON — NCUA's risk-based capital proposal is drawing more fire from Washington, this time from the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on financial institutions and consumer credit, sent a letter Friday to NCUA covering their concerns with the proposed rule.
Leaders of the Senate Banking Committee, as well as the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, sent letters to NCUA in June regarding the risk-based capital rule. NCUA also received a letter on this topic that was signed by more than 320 members of the House of Representatives.
The proposed rule’s risk weights are a central issue in Friday’s letter, as has been the case in many CU comment letters on the proposed rule. Hensarling and Capito contend the weights deviate markedly in some areas from standards banking regulators have applied for banks.
The letter asks NCUA to consider if some of the weights are appropriate and also asks if the proposed rule requires affected credit unions to hold higher levels of capital that would ultimately result in less credit availability for credit union members.
The two legislators also requested that NCUA consider allowing CUs more time to come into compliance with a final rule than the current 18 months that are allotted.
NCUA chairman Debbie Matz has stated that
