NCUA Submits Reg Relief Requests

At the request of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL), NCUA has submitted its suggestions for measures to be included in a Senate regulatory relief bill. NCUA's requests are related to: asking that credit unions be permitted to provide check cashing and wire transfers to nonmembers within their fields of membership (NCUA cited expanded services to the underserved as a key reason); elimination of the 12-Year Maturity Limit on federal credit union loans; elimination of the 1% aggregate investment limit (of shares and undivided earnings) in CUSOs, with NCUA being granted power to set the limit by regulation; elimination of the statutory mandate that an FCU only add new groups to its FOM that are within a "reasonable proximity" to the credit union; expansion of the agency's flexibility to authorize new federal credit union investments; elimination of the requirement that groups of more than 3,000 to be spun off into a separate credit union when two healthy federal credit unions merge.; and providing credit unions the same relief banks and thrifts now have from registering as broker-dealers with the SEC when engaging in certain investment activities. A regulatory relief bill is expected later this year.