WASHINGTON, DC (April 25, 2017) — Good afternoon,
Attached please find NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger’s letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Secretary Steven Mnuchin regarding recommendations from the Credit Union Roundtable that occurred on April 4, 2017.
In the letter, Berger said, “Credit unions are extremely well capitalized. Current net worth in the industry is $140 billion, representing a net worth ratio of 10.9%. Additionally, credit unions and the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) performed very well during the financial crisis, and since Risk-Based Capital (RBC) was first proposed, the health of the credit union industry has only continued to improve.”
Regarding the legislative front, Berger discussed the Financial CHOICE Act and more, “Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Jeb Hensarling, introduced the Financial CHOICE Act. CHOICE is designed to enhance U.S. financial market resiliency and promote economic growth by offering well-managed, well-capitalized financial institutions – those with a simple leverage ratio of 10 percent – an “off ramp” from RBC’s complexity. Additionally, NAFCU supports the reintroduction of the Capital Access for Small Business and Jobs Act, H.R. 1244, which would give credit unions access to supplemental capital, an element of comprehensive capital reform.
Berger also highlighted other credit unions’ issues including:
• regulatory overlap and duplication;
• regulatory call reports;
• supervisory examination processes;
• Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering regulations;
• costs of compliance;
• regulatory treatment for the current expected credit loss accounting standard; and
• cost-benefit analysis of regulations.
Berger also thanked Mnuchin for the Treasury Department’s recent credit union roundtable held earlier this month, and he urged the department to keep regulatory relief in mind as the administration moves forward.
NAFCU sent a similar framework for regulatory relief to the department’s Office of Consumer Policy earlier this month.
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.
The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation’s federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go to www.nafcu.org or @NAFCU on Twitter.
