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April 09, 2013

NAFCU's witness Burrow presses 5-point relief plan

April 10, 2013 – Bob Burrow, president and CEO of Bayer Heritage FCU in Proctor, W.Va., will testify before a House subcommittee today on the need to provide credit unions the regulatory relief proposed in NAFCU's five-point relief plan for all credit unions.

Burrow's credit union has had to hire extra staff to deal with the steady growth in regulatory compliance burdens, spurred in large part by the Dodd-Frank Act. During a hearing by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, he will testify today in favor of NAFCU's five-point plan for regulatory relief as well as the three bills offered in the House so far that would help accomplish key parts of it:

  • H.R. 719, the "Capital Access for Small Businesses and Jobs Act," which would allow credit unions access to supplemental capital;
  • H.R. 688, the "Credit Union Small Business Jobs Creation Act," which would raise the credit union member business lending cap; and
  • H.R. 749, the "Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act," which would eliminate requirements to mail redundant and unnecessary privacy notices annually.

In promoting NAFCU's five-point plan, Burrow will urge support for:

  • administrative improvements, including authority for NCUA to grant a federal credit union parity under a broader state law, better cost/benefit analysis of NCUA and CFPB rules, examination fairness;
  • capital reforms, including a review of prompt corrective action, creation of a risk-based capital system, supplemental capital, special capital requirements for newly chartered federal credit unions;
  • enhancements to the federal credit union charter, including a review of outdated corporate governance provisions, easing in field-of-membership restrictions and authority for all types of credit unions to take in underserved areas;
  • operational improvements, including greater MBL authority, easing in annual privacy notice rules, more flexibility in investments, flexibility for NCUA in regulating credit union lending; and
  • 21st century data security standards, including national standards for safekeeping financial information, a requirement that breached entities pay for breach clean-up, timely notification to account servicers when breaches occur.

Burrow will also reiterate NAFCU's call for better-coordinated rulemaking by federal financial institution regulators. The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. Today's hearing begins at 2 p.m.