Credit union trade associations disagreed with the NCUA's claimmade in a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

In testimony before the Financial Services Committee, NCUAGeneral Counsel Mike McKenna said the majority of the rulesapproved by the agency beginning in 2013 provided regulatory relieffor credit unions.

Also Read: NCUA Testifies to House Panel

“The NCUA is seriously underestimating the impact of regulatoryburden. Much more can be done to provide regulatory relief tocredit unions,” NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger said in astatement.

“Specifically, we hope that the NCUA will heed and be responsiveto credit unions' comments regarding the proposed risk-basedcapital rule,” Berger said. “Contrary to the NCUA's stated aim, therisk-based capital rule will be one-size-fits-all and createsignificant burdens because it will force all credit unions toadjust their capital, not just the 3% of credit unions the NCUAcurrently estimates would be downgraded under the proposedrule.”

Eric Richard, executive vice president and general counsel atCUNA, and Mary Dunn, senior vice president and deputy generalcounsel, said the NCUA is moving in a pro-regulatory direction.

“Counting up the number of rules and deciding how many wereregulatory and how many were de-regulatory is not a viableapproach,” Richard told CU Times.

“The real issue is not the number, it's the impact and believeme, credit unions have felt the impact of regulations like theliquidity risk-management rule,” Dunn said.

Following the hearing, CUNA CEO Bill Cheney told CUTimes it was terrific to see members of Congress showinginterest in issues like risk-based capital and business lending.

“We have urged Congress to take a particular interest in theproposed risk-based capital rule, and clearly the issue has piquedinterest. The questions about the risk-based capital proposalreflect a level of concern in Congress that the proposal is in needof significant improvements,” Cheney said. “We appreciate that theNCUA has indicated it will make changes and we will continue toencourage them to do so.”

The hearing, titled “Who's In Your Wallet: Examining HowWashington Red Tape Impairs Economic Freedom,” also saw testimonyfrom Meredith Fuchs, general counsel at the CFPB; Richard Osterman,acting general counsel at the FDIC; Scott Alvarez, general counselat the Federal Reserve; and Amy Friend, chief counsel at the Officeof the Comptroller of the Currency.