Press

WASHINGTON, DC (March 27, 2015) — National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler today hailed Sen. Mike Crapo’s (R-Idaho) introduction of legislation that would ensure all regulations are subject to 10-year regulatory evaluation process under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act (EGRPRA), including recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Dodd-Frank rules.

“We appreciate Sen. Crapo’s leadership on this issue and recognition of the heavy regulatory burden that credit unions are operating under,” said Thaler. “While we are pleased that NCUA has shown leadership in voluntarily participating in the EGRPRA process, we believe requiring review of all existing regulations from financial regulators, especially NCUA and CFPB, as this legislation would do, will help in preventing costly, unnecessary or duplicative rules and help credit unions thrive.”

The 1996 Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act (EGRPRA) was designed to consider how to best reduce the regulatory burden on financial institutions, while at the same time, ensuring the safety and soundness of the financial system.

Specifically, the bill would make the following reforms to EGRPRA:

lists each agency that is a member of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council separately – CFPB, National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Office of the Comptroller Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Federal Reserve to ensure that CFPB and NCUA are mandated to take part in the review process;

specify that such review is to include rulemakings, joint or otherwise, under Dodd-Frank; and

expands the review by broadening the requirement to apply to financial institutions in general as opposed to just insured depository institutions. FFIEC is designed to prescribe uniform principles and standards to Federal examination of financial institutions, not just insured depository institutions.

NAFCU has called on congressional leaders to embrace bipartisan regulatory relief through its five-point plan for regulatory relief and its “Top Ten” list of regulations to amend or eliminate.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is the only national trade association that exclusively represents the interests of federally chartered credit unions before the federal government and the public.