June 12, 2013
The Honorable Tim Johnson
Chairman
Senate Committee on Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Michael Crapo
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Re: The Importance of Regulatory Relief for our Nation’s Credit Unions
Dear Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member Crapo:
On behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the only trade association that exclusively represents the interests of our nation’s federal credit unions, I write today in conjunction with tomorrow’s hearing, “Lessons Learned From the Financial Crisis Regarding Community Banks.” As you examine issues relating to community banks, we urge you to keep credit unions in mind as well.
As you know, all community based financial services institutions, including credit unions, are struggling under an ever-increasing regulatory burden in the wake of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act [P.L.111-203]. The impact of this growing compliance burden is evident as the number of credit unions continues to decline, dropping by more than 700 institutions since 2009. Credit unions didn’t cause the financial crisis and shouldn’t be caught in the crosshairs of regulations aimed at those entities that did. Unfortunately, that has not been the case thus far. Accordingly, finding ways to cut-down on burdensome and unnecessary regulatory compliance costs is a chief priority of our members. We hope it will also be a priority of the Committee.
Regulatory relief is critical to the survival of credit unions and, as outlined in the attached letter NAFCU sent to the Committee on February 12th, there are several areas where Congress can act to reduce the overwhelming burden credit unions face. We look forward to working with you and your staff to ensure that the views of credit unions are conveyed and that the proposals outlined in the attached letter are given due consideration during the 113th Congress.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. If you have any questions or would like further information about any of these issues, please do not hesitate to contact me or NAFCU’s Senior Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Jillian Pevo at (703) 842-2836.
Sincerely,
Brad Thaler
Vice President of Legislative Affairs
cc: Members of the Senate Banking Committee