While some of the proposals to revamp the way financial services are regulated are well meaning, they could have unintended consequences that harm credit unions and therefore lawmakers should proceed with caution.
That's the message representatives of CUNA and NAFCU conveyed today during testimony on the impact of regulatory restructuring on small businesses at a hearing of the House Small Business Committee.
"There needs to be recognition that in certain areas-credit unions come to mind-the regulation [that preceded the crisis] and enforcement was sound and the regulated enteritis performed well, and an appreciation that smarter regulation is appropriate," said CUNA Senior Vice President Bill Hampel.
Recommended For You
He said that the current proposal for an agency to regulate consumer financial products would work if it "does not impose duplicative or unnecessary burdens on credit unions."
Price Choppers Employees FCU President/CEO Dawn Donovan, who testified on behalf of NAFCU, said the agency shouldn't have any oversight over credit unions and the NCUA should have full responsibility in that area.
Hampel and Donovan both urged lawmakers to expand credit unions' ability to make member business loans.
Hampel said the federal government should be given the right to preempt certain state consumer laws.
Donovan urged lawmakers not to apply the Community Reinvestment Act to credit unions because they are "inherently invested in their communities, operating with a not-for-profit cooperative structure and a common bond membership, unlike other depository institutions."
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
