NAFCU letter to HFSC in support of the Financial Regulatory Clarity Act of 2014

Below is NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt's letter to House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Chairman Shelley Moore Capito and Ranking Member Gregory Meeks in support of their introduction of H.R. 4466, the “Financial Regulatory Clarity Act of 2014.” Members of the House Financial Services Committee were copied on the letter.

In the letter, Hunt thanked Chairman Capito and Ranking Member Meeks for their proposed legislation which is an important step in providing regulatory relief since it would ensure that financial regulators are making commonsense efforts to ensure new regulations are not duplicative or inconsistent with existing regulations.

If you would like more information on this matter or would like to speak about this with a NAFCU expert, please let me know.

Thank you.

Patty Briotta
Director of Public Relations
National Association of Federal Credit Unions
3138 10th Street North
Arlington, VA 22201
Phone: 703-842-2820
Cell: 703-200-4600
Fax: 703-524-1082
pbriotta@nafcu.org

1. April 30, 2014
2. The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito                        The Honorable Gregory Meeks
3. Chairman                                                                    Ranking Member
4. House Financial Services Subcommittee on               House Financial Services Subcommittee on
5.   Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit                Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
6. United States House of Representatives                    United States House of Representatives
7. Washington, D.C. 20515                                            Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Capito and Ranking Member Meeks:

On behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the only trade association exclusively representing our nation’s federally chartered credit unions, I write today in support of the Financial Regulatory Clarity Act of 2014 (H.R. 4466) and to thank you for introducing this legislation. This bipartisan effort is an important step to provide regulatory relief, as it would ensure that financial regulators are making commonsense efforts to ensure new regulations are not duplicative or inconsistent with existing regulations.

At the beginning of the 113^th Congress, NAFCU called on lawmakers to enact broad based regulatory relief for credit unions with the unveiling of our “Five Point Plan for Regulatory Relief.”  A chief component of our plan encompasses the theme you are addressing in this bill—ensuring proposed regulations are put forward in a thoughtful manner that takes into account existing regulations.

While our proposal also calls for robust look-back cost-benefit analysis of all new National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rules, the theme of smart regulation is consistent in both approaches. The requirement in the Financial Regulatory Clarity Act, that would direct the NCUA and CFPB to conduct a robust review of regulations and report back to Congress within 60 days, is a one important step to achieve the kind of regulatory relief our nation’s credit unions so desperately need. NAFCU looks forward to working with you and your staff throughout the legislative process to help mitigate the unique regulatory hurdles credit unions face as the nation recovers from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this important piece of legislation. If I, or my colleagues, can be of assistance to you, or if you have any questions regarding this issue, please feel free to contact me or NAFCU's Vice President of Legislative Affairs, Brad Thaler, at (703) 842-2204.

Sincerely,

Carrie Hunt

Senior Vice President of Government Affairs & General Counsel