Newsroom

NAFCU witness Brian Ducharme, president and CEO of MIT Federal Credit Union (Cambridge, Mass.), will detail credit unions' concerns about the NCUA's risk-based capital rule (RBC) and comment on other legislation consequential to credit unions during a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing Thursday. His testimony marks the ninth time a NAFCU witness will deliver testimony before Congress this year.

During the hearing, Ducharme will provide members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit with his and NAFCU's assessment of five bills that aim to provide regulatory relief to credit unions and other financial institutions. The hearing begins at 2 p.m. Eastern Thursday.

One bill being considered, which was recently introduced by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., would repeal the NCUA's RBC rule, which is set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2019.

Over the past three years, NAFCU has consistently opposed the NCUA's RBC rulemaking and urged its withdrawal because of the adverse effects it would have on the credit union industry – particularly as a result of regulatory burdens and costs. NCUA Chairman J. Mark McWatters has indicated that revisiting this rulemaking is on his list of priorities.

NAFCU believes legislative changes are necessary to bring about comprehensive capital reform for credit unions, such as allowing credit unions to have access to supplemental capital sources and making statutory changes needed to design a true risk-based capital system for credit unions.

The subcommittee will also hear testimony on the following:

• Mortgage Fairness Act of 2017 (H.R. 2570), which would amend the Truth in Lending Act to clarify points and fees of a mortgage loan do not include other compensation amounts that are already taken into account when setting the loan's interest rate.
• Transparency and Accountability for Business Standards Act (H.R. 3179), which would require federal banking agencies to publish their reasoning and cost-benefit analysis when issuing stringent regulations.
• Business of Insurance Regulatory Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 3746), which would exempt persons regulated by a state insurance regulator from CFPB authority.
• Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act of 2017, which would require federal financial regulators to review regulations and identify those that are outdated or otherwise unnecessary.