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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington (Dec. 1, 2017) -- National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) Regulatory Affairs Counsel Ann Kossacchev today in a letter to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) outlined NAFCU's support for the agency's 2018-2022 Draft Strategic Plan. Kossachev also offered the agency recommendations they could make in order to reduce credit unions' regulatory burden.

In the letter, Kossachev wrote, "NAFCU encourages the NCUA to, among other things, continue its initiatives regarding examination flexibility, work closely with other agencies to address cybersecurity risks, approach every rulemaking with a focus on minimizing regulatory burden and creating tailored regulations, and find ways to increase diversity and inclusion in light of changing demographics."

In addition, Kossachev offered the following recommendations:

• Improve examination process for credit unions as a whole in order "to create significant cost-savings and regulatory relief while also ensuring a safe and sound credit union system."
• Improve cybersecurity efforts by working with other federal agencies to form a coordinated approach and providing strong, scalable cybersecurity tools that can be adopted by individual credit unions and on an industry-wide basis. However, Kossachev cautioned against creating "excessively burdensome cybersecurity standards, which will only work to hamper [credit unions'] efforts to defeat cyber-attacks."
• Loosen burdensome regulatory requirements by acknowledging that size does not equal risk and holistically evaluating credit unions to consider other factors outside of asset size when creating regulations and exemptions.
• Tailor regulations to ensure the differences between credit unions and banks are acknowledged in the financial regulatory landscape by working with other federal entities to create regulatory reform across the board.
• Provide regulatory flexibility and incentives to encourage credit unions to implement financial education programs for their members in order to promote financial health and responsibility in the country.
• Expand grants and loans to help credit unions reach the unbanked and underbanked portions of the population.
• Promote diversity and inclusion in the NCUA workforce to ensure its employees understand and work to meet the unique needs of the different credit union populations.

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The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation's federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go towww.nafcu.orgor@NAFCUon Twitter.

Falen Taylor
ftaylor@nafcu.org