WASHINGTON — Participants in recent America's Community Bankers' Government Affairs Conference asked a couple of the congressional speakers for their opposition to the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act.
Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) was first to field the question of whether ACB could count on his opposition to the bill. He responded that the issue of "a level playing field" between banks and credit unions is a perennial one. "It is good to be reminded they represent an additional challenge for community banks in America," he said.
When asked for his opposition, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), primary sponsor of the Credit Union Charter Choice Act in the 109th Congress, said he would oppose it at this time. "They've put in place a couple of things that would stop conversions," he highlighted, such as a minimum voter participation, which he said is not "necessary and proper." However, he did say there were some "good government things in there."
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Though not introduced yet, the legislation is expected to be similar to the version from last Congress with the addition of a provision to allow all federal credit union charter types to adopt underserved areas. There has also been talk of a stand-alone bill for this provision. When asked whether ACB would oppose it or not, Managing Director and Executive Vice President Bob Davis said, "We cannot answer that question. It depends on the legislation." In the past, he said the underserved areas have been used to "leapfrog" to more profitable ones.
ACB President/CEO Diane Casey-Landry said a better solution would be to apply the Community Reinvestment Act to credit unions as she said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has said. A CUNA spokesperson said they had not heard of Frank making that statement publicly though consideration of the issue was included on the committee's public agenda. Committee staff had not responded to an inquiry at press time. –[email protected]
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