Rep. Shelley Moore Capito Has No Plans for Hearings on the NCUA

Saying that the “communications with the agency have been very good,” the chair of a key House subcommittee said she doesn’t currently plan to hold any hearings on the NCUA.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, made her comments in an interview with Credit Union Times following her speech to NAFCU’s Congressional Caucus earlier this week.

That could change next year.

Last January, President Obama signed a bill giving the NCUA new regulatory powers but also required that the Government Accountability Office – Congress' investigative arm – take up to a year to investigate how the NCUA handled the corporate credit unions' woes.

The GAO doesn't have the power to punish the agency, but its findings could cause Congress to hold hearings and call for legislation to remedy any of the agency's perceived shortcomings.

Within six months of receiving the GAO report, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (of which NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz is a member) must submit a report to the House and Senate on actions taken and any recommendations issued to the NCUA.

The NCUA was the subject of an oversight hearing last December by the Senate Banking Committee. Capito (R-W.Va.) announced in her speech that in October her panel will hold a hearing on legislation that would raise the cap on member business lending from 12.25% of assets to as much as 27.5% of assets. Capito said she hasn’t decided if she will support the measure.