NAFCU will endorse GOP-backed legislation to have the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau governed by a five-member board and allow its decisions to be overturned by majority vote of a council of regulators.
The bureau, which is supposed to begin operating in July, is “potentially problematic,” and will create “burdensome and unnecessary,” compliance costs, Washington Gas Light FCU President/CEO Lynnette Smith said in testimony prepared for delivery before a House subcommittee tomorrow.
Smith, testifying on behalf of NAFCU, said replacing the director with a five-member board will make for better policymaking. She added that allowing a majority of the members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council to overturn bureau regulations–rather than the current two-thirds–ensures that safety and soundness won’t take a back seat in the new regulatory environment.
She also plans to urge lawmakers to remove the new bureau’s authority to accompany the NCUA during examinations. In addition, she will urge Congress to raise the threshold for depository institutions to be directly examined by the new bureau from $10 billion to $50 billion.
State Employees Credit Union of Maryland President/CEO Rodney Staatz is testifying on behalf of CUNA.
To read Smith’s prepared testimony and for more information on the hearing, which is being held by the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, go to: http://financialservices.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetails.aspx?newsid=1833
