Congress Weighs Community CUScrap

WASHINGTON - (06/06/05) -- A group of creditunion-turned-thrift representatives opposing NCUA's recentcrackdown on conversions to mutual savings banks has begun lobbyingCongress for increased oversight over the federal credit unionregulator. The Coalition for CU Charter Options, which has beencritical of new NCUA regulations expanding disclosure requirementsfor conversions, has been visiting lawmakers over the past week tocall attention to what they believe is unfair treatment by NCUA inits invalidation of member ballots in the conversions of creditunion giants Community CU and OmniAmerica CU, Capitol Hill sourcestold The Credit Union Journal. The group was formed by executivesof several converted credit unions with help from thrift lobbyingassociations. The intenstified lobbying efforts on behalf of creditunion conversions comes as top executives of NCUA and the Office ofThrift Supervision, which has been critical of NCUA's rulings, arescheduled to testify together during congressional hearings onregulatory relief Thursday. Among the provisions in a soon-to-beintroduced regulatory relief bill is a measure to make it tougherfor credit unions to convert to banks by requiring that 20% of allmembers vote.