WASHINGTON -- Christmas doesn't come for another six weeks, but NAFCU is already making its wish list known.
On the day after the election, NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker wrote to President-elect Barack Obama that the group's top goals for the new administration include preserving an independent regulator, obtaining risk-based capital and expanding the ability of credit unions to make business loans.
"America's credit unions play a distinct and important role in the U.S. financial marketplace and accordingly, as you transition and your administration moves forward, we hope we that we can be a resource to you on any credit union or other financial services issues," Becker wrote Obama.
He said risk-based capital and raising the amount of money credit unions can lend to businesses would help credit unions and enable them to help more businesses obtain capital, and thus create new jobs.
Keeping NCUA as an independent agency is important because "the fact that credit unions were not responsible for the economic turmoil is testament to the current framework, the heart of which is an independent regulator for credit unions," he wrote.
Becker also reiterated the group's opposition to losing credit unions' tax-exempt status. Maintaining the tax exemption enables them to provide low-cost services "with the emphasis on cooperative values such as democracy and volunteerism," he added.
--cmarx@cutimes.com
