Newsroom

December 09, 2013

Berger at MACUMA: Enough is enough

Dec. 10, 2013 – NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger spoke about the overregulation of credit unions as well as NAFCU's plan to target "the dirty dozen" top regulations that must be eliminated or changed during his address last night before the Metropolitan Area Credit Union Management Association in Arlington, Va.

Berger mentioned a call from a medium-sized credit union's CEO, who compared the regulatory onslaught to how the discovery of antibiotics led to drug-resistant strains of diseases, essentially saying that "too much of a good thing can quickly turn bad." He said the initial goals of the Dodd-Frank Act were understandable and necessary, but its massive size and as-yet undefined consequences are wreaking havoc on the credit union industry.

"Credit unions cannot serve Main Street if they remain locked in an uphill battle with Wall Street," Berger said. "In its very essence, overregulation is nothing more than a regressive tax – one that hamstrings our fundamental ability to compete. Most important, every dollar credit unions spend on regulatory compliance is a dollar they cannot invest in a family's dream of homeownership or a budding entrepreneur's vision for a small business. It's far past time for a common-sense approach to regulation based on government's power to help rather than its ability to hinder."

Berger cited several legislative efforts to curb the overregulation of the industry, including the "Regulatory Relief for Credit Unions Act," introduced by Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif. He also highlighted NAFCU's decision to go after the top 12 worst regulations for the industry – the "dirty dozen" – which affect whether credit unions can change their fields of membership, whether their members can transfer money from savings accounts more than a certain number of times per month, and more. Details about the 12 regulations are available on the NAFCU website.