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The credit union industry has seen unprecedented challenges this year. Despite the uncertainty, the association and its member credit unions have achieved some great wins in 2020 as NAFCU moved forward with its mission of strengthening credit unions and remained hard at work advocating for industry priorities.

Here are a few key NAFCU and industry highlights to mark this year:

Growth

According to the most recent NCUA call report data, the credit union industry now serves more than 122 million Americans – representing 2.4 percent growth over the year – with new members joining each day. As the industry grew, so did NAFCU: The association now represents 54 percent of the industry's assets.

Advocacy

As lawmakers worked on coronavirus relief legislation, NAFCU worked to keep credit union priorities top of mind, ensuring the paycheck protection program (PPP) included credit unions as lenders and securing set-aside funding to meet credit union members' small business loan needs.

The NAFCU team also led legislative efforts related to the Financial Accounting Services Board's (FASB) current expected credit loss (CECL) standard. Legislation eliminating CECL was introduced in the House and the NCUA proposed a rule to phase-in the rule and exempt credit unions under $10 million.

On the advocacy front, NAFCU worked with stakeholders on a number of issues, including:

• the Federal Reserve lifting its six-per-month transfer limit on consumers' savings accounts under Regulation D;
• establishing a four-month limit on the number of principal and interest payments credit unions must cover on behalf of their borrowers in forbearance for government-backed mortgage loans;
• greater Central Liquidity Facility access and flexibility for credit unions to help alleviate liquidity concerns;
• troubled debt restructuring flexibility via legislative provisions; and
• more.

Additionally, NAFCU entered into a partnership with the United States Export-Import Bank to promote small business lending.

Compliance and Education

NAFCU's compliance team continued to provide credit unions with award-winning compliance assistance, answering more than 9,000 member questions via the association's direct compliance assistance program, including more than 1,600 questions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, the team published more than 160 blog posts, articles, charts, guides and tools in efforts to assist credit unions in overcoming challenges.

In efforts to keep the credit union community connected while social distancing practices remained a part of day-to-day life, NAFCU continued to expand its member-only networks designed to connect credit union professionals to their peers to share knowledge and solve challenges. 

Senior members of NAFCU's advocacy team reached hundreds of credit union executives during a virtual 50-state, cross-country roadshow to discuss regulatory challenges posed by the pandemic – bringing the information credit union professionals needed directly to their homes or offices.

See more of NAFCU's 2020 accomplishments.

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