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In new interviews with CUbroadcast's Mike Lawson, NAFCU's Brad Thaler and Curt Long discussed the association's push for a national data security standard, and the regulatory, legislative and economic trends affecting the credit union industry, respectively.

Thaler, NAFCU's vice president of legislative affairs, discussed with Lawson the impact recent data breaches – such as the one at Equifax – have had on credit unions and their members in his interview that aired Sunday.

Thaler noted that NAFCU has actively engaged with Congress on the data security issue in order to "lay a baseline for potential legislation" to create a national data security standard, which could be introduced in the next few months.

When asked by Lawson what a national data security standard would look like, Thaler said NAFCU has been "advocating for something that looks similar to what's in place for Gramm-Leach-Bliley for financial institutions.

"In particular, credit unions have put a lot of work into complying with Gramm-Leach-Bliley, it's something that's scalable and flexible depending on the size and scope of the business, and we think that should apply to … everybody who has a role in the payment system," Thaler continued.

Under a national data security standard, Thaler clarified that NAFCU is working to not create more burdens on credit unions – which have almost 20 years of a successful track record under GLBA – but to ensure all entities that handle consumer information take appropriate steps to protect it.

Long, NAFCU's vice president of research and chief economist, shared details from the 2017 NAFCU Annual Report on Credit Unions in another interview with Lawson last week, diving into the five key areas of the report: trends, service to members, legislative issues, regulatory issues and emerging challenges.

Long said this year's report highlighted "the growing importance of credit unions on the economy today," but also showed continued consolidation among credit unions, likely because of regulatory and compliance challenges. He also noted that NAFCU works closely with the Federal Reserve and uses the annual report to give feedback on the Fed's transaction services many credit unions use.

Looking at legislative and regulatory issues facing credit unions, Long said defending the credit union tax exemption and creating a national data security standard are NAFCU's priorities. He also noted that with the increased regulatory burden, credit unions have doubled their amount of compliance-focused employees since 2010.

"Small credit unions can't keep pace with onslaught of regulatory burden," Long said.

Within emerging challenges, Long said fintech companies are creating issues for credit unions "not only trying to keep pace with innovation, placing stress on security and budgets, but also representing another source of competition."

To listen to Thaler's full interview click here; to listen to Long's full interview click here.