In TheIncredibles, a computer-animated villain uses weapons to slowdown and stymie the lovable Mr. Incredible.

One of the most memorable is a bank of cannon that fires heavy,sticky blobs. When one blob lands on the hero, it hardly slows himdown. Several in a row become a sticky annoyance but oncethe heavy pelting begins, he's immobilized.

According to the Filene Research Institute's newest study,Only Up: Regulatory Burden and Its Effects on CreditUnions, the flurry of new and revised regulations havecreated a similarly sticky annoyance for credit unions in both theUnited States and Canada.

Because compliance has a high fixed cost component, this newregulatory regime seems to be generating artificial economies ofscale. The research revealed a very strong negative relationshipbetween the size of a credit union and the relative intensity ofits regulatory compliance costs.

Canadian credit unions in the largest quartile bore one-fifth ofthe comparable costs of those in the smallest quartile. In theU.S., those in the largest quartile bore just one-tenth of theregulatory compliance costs borne by those in the smallestquartile.

The study's authors estimated that between 2007 and 2012, thenumber of full-time equivalents devoted to regulatory complianceincreased on average by 70% in the U.S. and by 94% in Canada.

Measuring regulatory burden is like identifying sticky blobs.The second step is ensuring the best outcome for consumers requiretreating organizations with different characteristics in differentways.

George Hofheimer is the chief research and innovationofficer at the Filene Research Institute. He can be reachedat 608-852-4632 or [email protected].