WASHINGTON -- House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said today he opposed giving credit unions additional carve outs on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and the Systemic Resolution Fund.
He said the industry trade associations did make a "plausible argument," that some additional credit unions-beyond those with assets of less than $1.5 billion as the legislation currently states-should be exempt from being examined by the CFPA, but he doesn't see that provision changing before the bill reaches the House floor in early December.
Frank, who made his comments at a news conference in response to questions from Credit Union Times, said they may add language allowing the CFPA and the bank and credit union regulators to swap institutions that they examine on consumer issues.
As the bill is written, all financial institutions must comply with the rules issued by the new agency, but credit unions with assets under $1.5 billion would be examined by the NCUA on consumer issues as would banks with assets under $10 billion.
Frank also said he opposed expanding the exemption for funding the Systemic Resolution Fund beyond those credit unions with $10 billion or fewer worth of assets.
"A financial crisis rains on everybody and if you are a big institution you are interested in systemic stability," he said. " The bill will exempt all but a handful of credit unions."
Under the proposed legislation, financial institutions with assets of more than $10 billion would be charged a risk-based assessment to finance the Systemic Resolution Fund, which is aimed at rescuing large financial institutions that federal officials determine could impact the entire financial system if they were allowed to collapse.
Three credit unions have more than $10 billion in assets: Navy Federal CU, Pentagon Federal CU, and State Employees CU.
Frank's panel approved the CFPA legislation last month and is scheduled to begin discussing the systemic risk legislation tomorrow. He said they hoped to have all the bills considered on the House floor during the first week of December.
