WASHINGTON, DC (December 31, 2013) -- The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) announced its 2014 top priorities, which include preserving the credit union tax exemption, ensuring secondary mortgage market access for credit unions and embarking on a full court press to hold merchants accountable for data breaches that they are responsible for causing.
“In 2013, NAFCU achieved many important successes – on Capitol Hill and with the regulatory agencies,” said Dan Berger, NAFCU president and CEO. “We advanced our five-point plan for regulatory relief and have seen its measures reflected in several pieces of promising legislation, including the ‘Regulatory Relief for Credit Unions Act,’ H.R. 2572, from Financial Services Committee Vice Chairman Gary Miller, R-Calif., among others. We testified five times before Congress against overregulation, including highlighting the unintended consequences of all of the mortgage rules promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This year, the association will continue the fight against overregulation at every opportunity.”
“ 'Enough is enough' is NAFCU’s rallying cry for 2014. Financial regulators are still unnecessarily tightening the screws across the board and credit unions need relief,” Berger emphasized. "Credit unions need to be allowed to do what they do best – serve their members."
To that end, NAFCU is pushing the agencies for regulatory relief, as outlined in NAFCU’s “Dirty Dozen,” a discrete list of outdated regulations that should be eliminated or amended.
NAFCU’s 2014 top priorities are:
- Preserve credit unions’ federal tax exemption – NAFCU’s 2012 landmark study on the economic benefits of credit unions confirmed the tax exemption is vital for credit unions’ survival and a significant benefit for the country’s economy as a whole. NAFCU will remain vigilant in working to preserve the credit unions’ tax exemption.
- Preserve credit union access to secondary mortgage market – NAFCU will continue to advocate that any reform of the government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and housing finance overall ensures unfettered and guaranteed access for credit unions to the secondary mortgage market and fair pricing based on loan quality instead of loan volume.
- Stop overregulation of credit unions – NAFCU’s five-point plan for regulatory relief prompted hearings on credit unions’ unnecessary and overwhelming regulatory burden. NAFCU will continue to advance the call for immediate regulatory relief with lawmakers.
- Oppose lowering of debit interchange fees – NAFCU is seeking to have the U.S. district court’s July ruling on the Federal Reserve’s debit interchange rule, lowering interchange fees and increasing costs from network exclusivity provisions, overturned. NAFCU is prepared to go to Congress should the outcome go against credit unions. NAFCU, along with other amici, has been granted permission to participate in oral arguments this month on the case.
- Support member business lending – NAFCU supports legislation that would raise the arbitrary member business lending cap for credit unions, a key aspect of NAFCU’s five-point plan for regulatory relief. NAFCU is focusing on the “Credit Union Small Business Jobs Creation Act,” H.R. 688, and the “Small Business Lending Enhancement Act,” S. 968.
- Promote capital reform – NAFCU supports legislation that creates a risk-based capital system for credit unions, including the “Regulatory Relief for Credit Unions Act” and the “Capital Access for Small Business and Jobs Act,” H.R. 719. NAFCU will also continue to steer the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) away from a framework that divides the credit union industry into two separate categories as the agencies continues to consider implementing their capital rules. NAFCU believes any potential rule should reflect risk appropriately.
- Promote data security standards – NAFCU pioneered efforts to establish stronger data security standards for entities that handle consumer financial data. It will continue to push for a system that holds entities responsible for breaches accountable for associated costs and does not force credit unions to pay for others’ poor data security. NAFCU is also working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other federal agencies to ensure credit unions’ unique structure is considered as they develop cybersecurity frameworks and regulations.
- Seek Dodd-Frank Act reform – As the only trade association that opposed putting credit unions under the regulation of the CFPB, NAFCU remains on the frontline – pushing Congress to protect small financial entities like credit unions from the overreach of measures designed to rein in the big Wall Street institutions behind the financial crisis. NAFCU will continue to push for changes on CFPB funding, the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s authority to veto CFPB actions and other technical matters.
- Press for patent reform – Credit unions, like many others, suffer from the frivolous litigation of so-called “patent trolls” – patent-assertion entities that purchase patents to profit from such litigation. NAFCU will continue to monitor progress on Capitol Hill and seek relief for credit unions.
- Fight flood insurance premium hike – NAFCU will keep the pressure on Congress and others to find solutions for homeowners and institutions negatively impacted by increases in National Flood Insurance Program premiums.
- Seek E-SIGN Act reform – NAFCU supports streamlining and updates to the process under the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act for credit union members to opt in to electronic statements and reflect current technology in the marketplace.
- Promote parity in IOLTA coverage – NAFCU supports parity in the ability of credit unions to offer lawyers’ trust accounts and other escrow accounts with the same level of federal coverage as accounts in FDIC-insured institutions. NAFCU will continue to monitor progress on the “Credit Union Share Insurance Fund Parity Act,” H.R. 3468, and push for parity in National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund coverage.
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The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is the only national organization that focuses exclusively on federal issues affecting credit unions, representing its members before the federal government and the public.