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Federal regulators would be required to give a material reason for ordering financial institutions to terminate account relationships, essentially blocking Operation Choke Point, under NAFCU-backed legislation introduced Thursday by House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo.

Luetkemeyer first introduced the Financial Institutions Customer Protection Act in the previous Congress; the bill was passed by the House in February 2016.

The Operation Choke Point initiative was launched to fight consumer fraud by denying fraudulent businesses access to banking services; it holds financial institutions and third-party processors accountable if they continue to serve a client operating in a fraudulent manner.

Luetkemeyer introduced another piece of NAFCU-backed regulatory relief legislation in April: the Community Lending Enhancement and Regulatory Relief (CLEARR) Act, which, among other things, increases the "small servicer" exemption threshold, amends the Dodd-Frank Act to raise the current $10 billion asset-level exemption to $50 billion and provides a qualified mortgage safe harbor for portfolio loans.