Newsroom

NAFCU's Brad Thaler urged key lawmakers Wednesday to stay vigilant in their oversight of NCUA rulemaking on risk-based capital, and he reiterated the need for congressional action on both RBC and supplemental capital.

"Credit unions and their 98 million members thank you for your continued oversight with respect to this issue and for expressing your concerns to the agency regarding this proposal," Thaler, NAFCU's vice president of legislative affairs, said in a letter Wednesday to Senate Banking Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

Thaler told the lawmakers NAFCU hopes NCUA's new proposal will be an improvement on the first, a "one size fits all" package that would have required credit unions to maintain an additional $7 billion in capital to maintain their current capital cushion.

"NAFCU is hopeful that the proposed changes will represent a more fair system for credit unions," he wrote. "We would urge you to remain vigilant in your oversight of this rulemaking and stand ready to provide additional comment to the agency and take action if the re-proposal warrants it."

Thaler also reiterated NAFCU's longstanding call for congressional action to give credit unions access to supplemental capital sources and make the statutory changes needed to create a "true" risk-based capital system for credit unions. "We hope that your committees also will be willing to tackle these legislative reforms as the process moves forward," he said.