Press
NAFCU letter in advance of tomorrow’s hearing on financial regulations
March 4, 2014
The Honorable Patrick McHenry
Chairman
Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
House Financial Services Committee
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Al Green
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
House Financial Services Committee
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Re: The Need for Regulatory Relief for Our Nation’s Credit Unions
Dear Chairman McHenry and Ranking Member Green:
On behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the only trade association exclusively representing the interests of our nation’s federally chartered credit unions, I write today in advance of tomorrow’s hearing, “The Growth of Financial Regulation and its Impact on International Competitiveness.” Credit unions and their 97 million members appreciate the subcommittee’s willingness to explore how community-based financial institutions, including credit unions, are struggling under an ever-increasing regulatory burden.
The impact of the growing compliance burden under the Dodd-Frank Act is evidenced in the fact that 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 as all credit unions are subject to rule writing authority of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Accordingly, finding ways to cut-down on burdensome and unnecessary regulatory compliance costs is a chief priority of our members.
As outlined in the attached document, and first shared with Congress in February 2013, NAFCU’s five point plan for regulatory relief includes several important provisions aimed at ensuring credit unions aren’t subject to over burdensome, outdated, or duplicative regulation. As the subcommittee looks for ways to reduce regulatory burden moving forward, we ask that you keep in mind the need for regulatory relief for our nation’s credit unions.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide additional information with respect to the overwhelming amount of regulatory burden credit unions face. We look forward to the subcommittee’s review of how financial over-regulation is harming our nation’s financial institutions and stand ready to provide additional input should you have questions about the impact on credit unions.
If my colleagues or I can be of assistance to you, or if you have any questions regarding this issue, please feel free to contact myself, or NAFCU’s Director of Legislative Affairs, Jillian Pevo at (703) 842-2836.
Sincerely,
Brad Thaler
Vice President of Legislative Affairs
cc: Members of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee