WASHINGTON – An amendment proposed to the bank reform bill yesterday would exempt all credit unions with less than $10 billion in assets from the proposed consumer financial protection bureau and leave those duties to NCUA.
While provisions of the bill already exempt those credit unions from examinations by the proposed consumer bureau located inside the Federal Reserve, the proposed amendment would also exempt credit unions from all rulemaking and enforcement actions.
"Everyone keeps recognizing and saying, small institutions like credit unions didn't cause the crisis...now the Senate has an opportunity to vote on that fact," said Dan Berger, chief lobbyist for NAFCU, which drafted the amendment.
The prospects for the credit union carve-out are unclear because it was proposed by Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and doesn’t appear to have any Democrat co-sponsors.
NAFCU has been lobbying for the credit union carve-out in both the House and Senate, arguing that NCUA is already well-equipped to perform those duties, especially after creating its own consumer protection office.
The $10 billion threshold, which includes all but the nation’s three largest credit unions (Navy FCU, Pentagon FCU and North Carolina State Employees’ CU) would be indexed to inflation.
