WAUSAU, Wis.-Credit unions pleaded for regulatory relief at a House Financial Services Committee field hearing here.
Central City CU CEO Pat Wesenberg, who is also a member of the CUNA board, testifies that the growing list of regulations CUs must comply with creates "an unnecessary burden without any measure of the effectiveness of these changes" and urged lawmakers to impose a moratorium on new regulations for at least the next six months and reinstate the RegFlex program.
"There are no new, material systemic problems with the credit union system, and current safety and soundness concerns within natural person and corporate credit unions are being well managed," she said, adding that the new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is of particular concern.
"In the wake of the financial crisis, credit unions face what might be best described as a crisis of creeping complexity related to regulatory burden. It is not necessarily any one single regulation that is overly burdensome but rather the totality of regulations, the frequency with which the regulations change, and the sometimes varying application of the regulation by field examiners which sometimes conflicts with or expands upon the original intent of the regulation."
Central City CU, with $178 million in assets and 22,000 members, has had to hire a full-time compliance officer as a result of all the regulatory change, Wesenberg said.
Royal CU COO Mark Miller Mark Willer, said in his testimony that although the regulations are well intended strategies aimed at protecting consumers, they hurt his consumer-friendly credit union's ability to provide services that are equally well intended, with the goal of helping members improve their financial well-being.
