Newsroom

The House, voting 422-0, on Tuesday passed H.R. 3240, a bill requiring a Government Accountability Office study of the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation D that NAFCU believes will lead to a full repeal of the regulation's requirements.

The "Regulation D Study Act," introduced by Reps. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y, would require GAO to study the impact of the Fed's Reg D reserving requirements on depository institutions, consumers and monetary policy. While discussing the bill on the House floor prior to the vote, both Pittenger and Maloney cited NAFCU's support of the measure.

NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler wrote House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in support of the bill prior to the House vote. He said Reg D limits a credit union member's ability to transfer funds between savings and checking accounts to six transactions per month without triggering added reserving requirements for the credit union. He said this limit only applies to transaction accounts and not savings accounts, so it is confusing to credit union members and forces the credit union to focus more on compliance and less on member service.

"Federal Reserve Regulation D is a prime example of a regulation that hasn't been reconsidered by Congress or the agencies for far too long," Thaler wrote. "NAFCU believes a study of whether this outdated monetary reserve requirement imposed on depository institutions and consumers is necessary and believes the study would show strong evidence for the regulation's full repeal."

Reg D is included on NAFCU's "Dirty Dozen" list of rules and regulations ripe for change or elimination. The association discussed its concerns about Reg D in testimony this July before a House Financial Services subcommittee.

H.R. 3240 awaits Senate action.