ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The credit union lobby – in the midst of a flurry of new regulatory proposals – is calling on NCUA for a temporary halt to new rulemaking while credit unions catch their breath.
In the pendency of comment periods for a half-dozen major new rules, CUNA President Bill Cheney called on NCUA to hew to the spirit of President Obama’s directive to pare regulatory burden and consider whether any new rules are actually necessary, including ones that are in the pipeline.
“Going forward, you indicated the agency is limiting its new rulemaking in 2012,” Cheney said in a letter to NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz. “Any actions to minimize regulatory burdens are steps in the right direction, and that decision is consistent with CUNA’s recommendation in our October letter that the agency impose a moratorium on new regulations.”
CUNA’s plea comes as NCUA is preparing major new regulations on CUSOs, loan participations, liquidity and Reg Flex. Credit unions also are coping with a proliferation of new rules from the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and a variety of other regulators.
NAFCU also has asked NCUA for a halt in new regulations, and the trade group has asked the regulator to withdraw pending proposals on CUSOs and loan participations. “NAFCU has been consistently calling for a reduction in regulations for a number of years as well as in its recent comment letters to the agency on specific regulations such Reg Flex where we stated that, ‘additional regulation should not be a substitute for holding examiners accountable for making the tough decisions that are expected, if not mandated, by proper and effective regulatory oversight,’” said NAFCU President Fred Becker.
CUNA’s Cheney said the return to health for credit unions shows that it is time to retreat on the regulatory front. “As NCUA’s most recent National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund report indicates, the credit union system not only managed to survive the financial crisis but is performing very well,” Cheney said to the NCUA chairman.
“In that light, healthy credit unions deserve to be encouraged; they deserve to have support from policymakers, and they deserve a break from the constant regulatory pounding they have experienced virtually since the beginning of the economic downturn. Regulatory relief is not just important, it is essential to the continued prosperity of the credit union system and the ability of credit unions to serve their members.”
