Newsroom

November 02, 2017

NAFCU engaged with Senate activity on reg relief

Advocating for regulatory relief for credit unions remains a top priority for NAFCU as senators on both sides of the aisle indicated this week their willingness to work together to roll back some of the Dodd-Frank Act's regulations.

As credit unions were not the bad actors that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, NAFCU has argued they should not be subject to the regulatory requirements mandated under Dodd-Frank. NAFCU has had multiple meetings on Capitol Hill advocating for five tenets of a health and appropriate regulatory environment that will allow credit unions to thrive, one of which is relief from growing regulatory burdens.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, have been engaged in negotiations for months to reduce some of Dodd-Frank's most burdensome provisions, especially on credit unions and smaller community banks.

However, Brown announced earlier this week that he was walking away from the negotiations because the two had reached a stalemate. Crapo subsequently signaled that he would continue to work to get a bipartisan deal, and at least two other Senate Banking Committee Democrats have indicated their willingness to join the talks with Crapo instead, recognizing the need for regulatory reform.

"Congress needs to make the financial regulatory system work better for everyone, and I'm willing to work with anyone on a deal that would accomplish that goal," said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., in a statement this week in which she noted the need for relief for credit unions, among others. Heitkamp spoke to hundreds of credit union representatives at NAFCU's Congressional Caucus in September.

NAFCU will continue to monitor the Senate's efforts and push for commonsense regulatory reform.