The Filene Research Institute has joined with Credit UnionCentral of Canada to sponsor a study seeking to quantify theeffects of growing regulation on credit unions in Canada and theUnited States.

Credit unions in both nations are asked to participate in thesurvey that will form the basis of the research by professors PanuKalmi of the University of Vaasa in Finland and Giovanni Ferri ofLUMSA University of Rome in Italy.

“When legislatures, regulators, and international standardsorganizations write financial regulation, they follow the headlines, writing checks and balances designed tofend off the last crisis and to target egregious offenders orsystemically risky organizations,” Filene said in itsannouncement.

“The merits of this approach are debatable, but it almost alwaysfails to account for small financial institutions, like creditunions, which must find ways to cope with new mandates,” the institute said.

The research will focus on the time spent complying withspecific regulations and quantify its differing effects acrossassets sizes, the Madison, Wis., think tank said.

“We are excited to start this research with Professor Kalmi andProfessor Ferri,” said Ben Rogers, research director at the FileneResearch Institute. “A clear-eyed measure of how regulations areaffecting credit unions will be helpful for both credit unions andpolicymakers. The deadline for participation is on or before June14.”

There are American and Canadian versions of the survey and bothare available online.