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January 08, 2018

NAFCU highlights CU reg relief priorities to House panel

NAFCU's Brad Thaler in a letter Monday highlighted NAFCU's priorities for regulatory relief ahead of a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on ways to improve the efficiency of federal financial regulators. Thaler also wrote in support of legislation to reduce the regulatory burden on community financial institutions.

The hearing, "Legislative Proposals for a More Efficient Federal Financial Regulatory Regime: Part III," held by the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, begins today at 2 p.m. Eastern.

"As you seek a more efficient federal regulatory regime, NAFCU firmly believes that regulatory relief is needed both from Congress and the regulators to ensure credit unions have a healthy and appropriate environment that allows them to meet the needs of the nation's 110 million credit union members," Thaler wrote in the letter to Subcommittee Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., and Ranking Member Lacy Clay, D-Mo.

In addition to outlining NAFCU's regulatory reform priorities, Thaler, NAFCU's vice president of legislative affairs, said the association is supportive of bills being considered by the subcommittee today, including:

  • Community Financial Institution Exemption Act (H.R. 1264), which would raise the CFPB exemption threshold for community institutions to $50 billion in assets and strengthen the bureau's exemption authority; and
  • Home Mortgage Reporting Relief Act of 2017 (H.R. 4648), which would delay the collection and reporting of new data points under the CFPB's Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) final rule.

A NAFCU witness testified at the subcommittee's Part II hearing on regulatory relief efforts in December. The focus of that testimony was on legislation to stop the NCUA's risk-based capital (RBC) rule from taking effect on Jan. 1, 2019; that bill is expected to be considered by the full House early this year.