Newsroom

NCUA Acting Chairman J. Mark McWatters, in remarks being given this hour before the Senate Banking Committee, said the agency is looking to provide the credit union industry with more regulatory relief and streamlined operations, and offered both regulatory and legislative ideas to make that happen.

McWatters is testifying today as part of a Senate Banking Committee series of hearings on fostering economic growth.

"NAFCU thanks Chairman McWatters for his testimony today and his ongoing commitment to providing the credit union industry with meaningful regulatory relief," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. "We look forward to working with him, the agency and Congress to bring about the relief outlined in his testimony."

Among the most notable ideas in McWatters' testimony are his legislative recommendations, which include providing the NCUA with enhanced flexibility to write rules to address situations, rather than imposing rigid requirements; and giving the agency greater discretion with respect to scale and timing when implementing statutory language.

He also suggests changes to credit unions' field of membership – many of which are also sought by NAFCU. Along these lines, he expresses support for the Financial Services for the Underserved Act (H.R. 5541), which NAFCU got introduced last Congress.

In his testimony, McWatters also suggests allowing federal credit unions to serve underserved areas without also requiring those areas to be local communities, permitting web-based communities to be considered for a credit union charter and eliminating multiple common-bond credit union proximity requirements.

McWatters also makes NAFCU-backed regulatory relief suggestions regarding supplemental capital, member-business lending and the general 15-year loan maturity limit, among others things. McWatters also notes that he would like changes made to the agency's risk-based capital rule – as also urged by NAFCU.

More on McWatters' testimony will be covered in tomorrow's NAFCU Today.