WASHINGTON – Credit unions are being offered a deal that would give them several regulatory relief provisions of the CURIA proposal–but not the most important ones–as part of a bill expected to be voted by the Senate Banking Committee as early as tomorrow.
The CURIA provisions that would be included in the bill include slightly raising of the member business loan caps by exempting religious loans; increasing investment limits for CUSOs; exempting credit unions from pre-merger notification requirements; and allowing privately insured credit unions to join the Federal Home Loan Bank system–but would not include risk-based capital or eliminating the member business loan cap, sources told The Credit Union Journal. The proposals would be added to the so-called Wal-Mart Bank bill, which would bar all non-financial entities, like Wal-Mart Stores, from owning industrial loan companies.
The credit union lobby is reviewing the proposal because it could be the last chance this year to pass regulatory relief provisions. But the absence of the two main CURIA priorities, as well as the bill’s inclusion of several major banking provisions is raising questions about whether to support the measure.
If the credit unions get behind the proposal it would make it much harder to get congressional support for CURIA, as some of the provisions are also in that bill.
