WASHINGTON– Saying that credit unions would be at a competitive disadvantage, CUNA President Dan Mica today urged Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to give the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund the power to provide full insurance for all non-interest bearing business accounts.

Mica's letter endorsed the request that NCUA Chairman Michael E. Fryzel made for parity in a letter to Paulson last week. According to the NCUA, approximately 5,000 credit unions offer those kinds of accounts. NAFCU President Fred Becker made a similar request to Paulson last week.

Earlier this month as a way to bolster the economy, the FDIC said that through 2009 all noninterest bearing business accounts would be insured no matter how large the account.

In Mica's letter, he also requested a meeting with Paulson's staff to discuss how credit unions could make use of the additional resources to financial institutions created by the Wall Street rescue bill that Congress passed last month.