What happens at the international regulatory level is increasingly shaping what happens at home.
That was the prevailing message during a Tuesday breakout session focused on the globalization of credit union regulation at Credit Union National Association’s (CUNA) Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) in Washington, D.C.
World Council of Credit Unions' (WOCCU) Vice President of Advocacy Andrew Price, Board Chair Steven Stapp and Vice Chair/Secretary Rafal Matusiak all participated in the discussion led by CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan. The group focused on several prominent international regulatory issues, including:
- Privacy regulations.
- Digitization.
- Financial inclusion.
- Capital standards.
“Nearly every new regulatory standard being imposed on credit unions—regardless of which country they’re located in—can be traced back to international standard setting bodies such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Financial Action Task Force and Financial Stability Board,” said Price. “A great example is the National Credit Union Association’s (NCUA-U.S.) risk-based capital rule—that is in part designed to implement a risk-based capital component in line with the Basel framework. WOCCU advocated to make sure the concept of proportionality was built into the international standard in order to allow tailoring appropriate for credit unions.”
Price and the WOCCU Advocacy team work continuously to ensure international regulators stress the need for national, regional and state regulators to apply such regulations in a proportional manner for credit unions and other less-complex financial cooperatives.
Along with their WOCCU Board duties, Stapp serves as President and CEO of Unitus Community Credit Union in Oregon, and Matusiak is President of Poland’s National Association of Cooperative Savings and Credit Unions (NACSCU).
Both men agree the compliance issues their organizations face are heavily influenced by international standards, despite being governed by different regulatory bodies in different countries.
From left to right: WOCCU Board Chair Steven Stapp, CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan, WOCCU VP of Advocacy Andrew Price and WOCCU Board Vice Chair Rafal Matusiak.