6 Cliff Hangers That Will Shape Credit Unions This Fall
by Henry Meier
It’s early August and unfortunately there’s a hint of fall in the air, which has gotten me thinking of all those annoying cliff hangers. Here are the questions, the answer to which will shape the credit union policy landscape in the coming months.
- Will the Federal Reserve appeal the recent ruling striking down its debit card interchange fee regulations? If it doesn’t, then the next few months will be consumed with another round of rulemaking. This is going to hurt, the only question is how much?
- What will the final Dodd-Frank regulations look like? We still don’t have a definitive answer from our good friends at the CFPB about which fees are to be included in calculating qualified mortgage restrictions. In addition, we still dont’ know what the new combined disclosures will look like. In other words, some of the biggest changes are yet to be announced as you put the finishing touches on your new mortgage policies and procedures. By the way, if you weren’t working on those yet, you should be.
- Who will the new chairman of the Federal Reserve be? Chairman Bernanke’s term doesn’t expire until January, but there is speculation that the President could make his nomination as early as September. Let’s face it, with Congress and the President unlikely to come to grips on any major structural reforms this year, the person with the most direct and immediate control over the economy is the FED Chairman. The two leading contenders are Janet Yellen and Larry Summers. Yesterday, the wonderfully outspoken head of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, Richard Fisher, commented that they were both well qualified candidates. He also noted that the next chair should not be a prima dona, which would seem to disqualify Summers, who doesn’t exactly have a reputation for playing well with others. Whoever gets the nod will have an impact over how long the FED maintains its bond buying program.
