WASHINGTON - CUNA President Dan Mica used today's Senate hearing on regulatory restructuring to make another pitch for lifting the cap on member business loans, but after the session Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said he wants to proceed with caution because of concerns about regulatory oversight.
"We can put $10 billion on Main Street in small business loans,'' Mica said in response to a question from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) who has said he plans to introduce legislation to lift the cap.
Schumer said it was needed because many banks have slowed down their lending and businesses with good credit are losing their lines of credit.
But Dodd (D-Conn.) told reporters after the hearing that before removing or lifting the cap, his panel needs to be certain that the NCUA has the capacity to deal with additional commercial lending. He also said that the panel might look into lifting the cap temporarily during the current recession or raising the cap, rather than eliminating it altogether. Currently it is set at 12.25% of a credit union's assets.
During the hearing, Bancorp South Chairman/CEO Aubrey Patterson challenged Mica's argument about the need to change the cap. Patterson, who testified on behalf of the American Bankers Association, said "most credit unions are well within the cap they have today.''
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.