WASHINGTON, D.C. — NAFCU announced its top priorities for 2014, which include preserving the credit union tax exemption, ensuring secondary mortgage market access for CUs and embarking on a "full court press to hold merchants accountable for data breaches that they are responsible for causing."
"In 2013, NAFCU achieved many important successes — on Capitol Hill and with the regulatory agencies," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger in a statement released Thursday.
But according to Berger, the agency's rallying cry for 2014 is "Enough is enough."
"Financial regulators are still unnecessarily tightening the screws across the board and credit unions need relief," he said. "Credit unions need to be allowed to do what they do best — serve their members."
NAFCU's top priorities this year include:
- Preserving the CU federal tax exemption.
- Preserving credit union access to secondary mortgage market.
- Stopping the overregulation of CUs.
- Opposing the lowering of debit interchange fees.
- Supporting member business lending.
- Promoting capital reform.
- Promoting data security standards.
In addition, NAFCU said it will be seeking Dodd-Frank Act reform; pressing for patent reform; fighting flood insurance premium hike; seeking E-Sign Act reform; and promoting parity in Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) coverage.
"NAFCU supports parity in the ability of credit unions to offer lawyers' trust accounts and other escrow accounts with the same level of federal coverage as accounts in FDIC-insured institutions," the organization stated, adding that it will continue to monitor progress on the Credit Union Share Insurance Fund Parity Act (H.R. 3468) as well as push for parity in National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund coverage.
