WASHINGTON — In the wake of Wednesday's legislative hearing by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit — "Examining Regulatory Relief Proposals for Community Financial Institutions," and the proposals that would benefit federal credit unions — NAFCU weighed in with a letter.
The letter, by VP of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler, discussed the subcommittee's continued focus on ways to mitigate the "immense" regulatory burden credit unions face in the wake of the financial crisis and the Dodd-Frank Act.
Thaler also offered suggested improvements, including the addition of a cost-benefit analysis of new rules. The letter was addressed to Shelley Moore Capito, chairman of the Subcommittee, and Gregory Meeks, Ranking Member. All members of the Subcommittee were copied.
"Today's hearing offers another critical opportunity for credit unions to make a strong case for the type of regulatory relief that the industry so desperately needs," Thaler wrote. "We are pleased that the bipartisan discussion draft circulated by Chairman Capito and Ranking Member Meeks to help ensure that conflicting, inconsistent, and duplicative laws and regulations are addressed at the hearing."
Thaler and NAFCU called for additional steps to ensure that regulators are required to conduct a look-back cost-benefit analysis on all new rules after three years.
"We believe regulators should be required to revisit and modify any rules for which the cost of complying was underestimated by 20% or more from the original estimate at the time of issuance," the letter stated. "These hard benchmarks would complement the ideas found in the Capito-Meeks discussion draft and we are hopeful that they would also be considered as the legislation moves forward."
QM Rule Fairness
NAFCU also noted the work of Rep. Andy Barr (D-Ky.) in introducing the bipartisan CFPB Rural Designation Petition and Correction Act(H.R. 2672) that would establish a petition process to ensure "rural" designations for the purposes of some Qualified Mortgage (QM) categories are made fairly.
"As you know, NAFCU has serious concerns about several aspects of the QM definition, including the way in which points and fees are calculated," Thaler wrote. "Representative Barr's bill is a positive step forward in addressing outstanding issues related to QMs. With the QM rule set to take effect next month, we would also urge the Subcommittee to act in a timely manner on other QM fixes pending before it, such as the bipartisan Mortgage Choice Act of 2013 (H.R. 3211)."
