Newsroom

November 05, 2018

This week: NAFCU eyes Nov. 6 elections, CECL implementation talks, Fed rates meeting

capitolAmericans will vote tomorrow in the midterm elections. Pre-election polling continues to hint that Democrats are poised to possibly win control of the House in the next Congress while the Senate is expected to remain in Republican hands. NAFCU's award-winning advocacy team remains active on Capitol Hill on top industry issues.

NAFCU is engaged in tomorrow's elections and will provide analysis following the results. Ahead of the elections, credit unions can gain some insights from this Q&A with NAFCU Director of Political Affairs Chad Adams.

The current Congress is expected to return to Washington next week for a lame duck session. NAFCU is pushing for relief under the Bank Secrecy Act, data security and NCUA's risk-based capital (RBC) rule before the year's end. NAFCU will also be engaged as the Senate is expected to take up a number of pending nominations, which could include Kathy Kraninger to lead the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection; Rodney Hood's nomination to serve on the NCUA Board has yet to be taken up by the Senate Banking Committee.

Congress must also finish work on government spending, including the financial services and general government (FSGG) appropriations measure. NAFCU has heavily advocated for full funding for the NCUA's Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF) and Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, which is included in the Senate-passed version of the bill. Both Senate- and House-passed bills include full funding for the Small Business Administration's (SBA) 7(a) and 504 loan programs, which are used by credit unions.

In addition to award-winning advocacy on Capitol Hill, NAFCU will be engaged as:

  • the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on Wednesday discusses current expected credit loss (CECL) implementation issues raised at its NAFCU-attended Transition Resource Group for Credit Losses last week. The meeting will focus on issues that may require amendments or clarifications. NAFCU will monitor the meeting and update credit unions on the discussion.
  • the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) – the Fed's monetary-policy setting arm – begins a two-day meeting Wednesday. A rate hike is not expected following this meeting, but it is widely expected that another quarter-point rate hike will follow the FOMC's Dec. 18-19 meeting.
  • Brian Montgomery, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) commissioner and assistant secretary for housing, speaks during a Women in Housing and Finance event Wednesday.

Also this week, NAFCU's Lending Conference takes place. The conference runs today through Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.; read more here.