Newsroom
Watch: NAFCU’s Mesack gives industry updates from March
The second half of March was dominated by conversations around the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. As NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger noted on Bloomberg TV, credit union deposits remain safe and over 90 percent of deposits are insured.
Additionally, Mike Wilson, chief experience officer at Members 1st Credit Union (Enola, PA.), testified on NAFCU’s behalf at the House Small Business Committee’s hearing on the CFPB’s Section 1071 proposed rule.
Watch NAFCU’s latest video as NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Greg Mesack provides additional updates from March. Be sure to join NAFCU’s efforts to tout the credit union difference to policymakers and the public via #NAFCUNation.
Prominent Hearings
· On March 28, NAFCU-member Michael Wilson, Chief Experience Officer of Members 1st FCU, testified before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access for a hearing on the CFPB’s Section 1071 Small Business Lending Data Collection proposed rule. In his statement, Wilson highlighted the costs and other burdens this proposal would have on credit unions and offered NAFCU’s recommendations for reducing those burdens.
· The Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) each held a hearing on the recent bank failures. NAFCU wrote to the committees to reaffirm the financial strength of the credit union system and advocate for parity between NCUA and FDIC deposit insurance coverage levels.
· The House and Senate Small Business Committees held SBA oversight hearings. NAFCU’s letters made the case for a fair regulatory framework for fintech lenders and cautioned against SBA proposals that would loosen underwriting standards for SBA-guaranteed loans while also allowing underregulated fintechs to participate in SBA lending programs.
· The HFSC Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy held a hearing on potential CFPB reform. NAFCU’s letter discussed a series of key credit union issues, including the Section 1071 and 1033 rulemakings, the proposed rule on credit card late fees, examination efficiency, Regulation E, and our longstanding request for the Bureau to use its statutory small entity exemption authority to provide credit unions blanket relief from onerous requirements.
· For the HFSC's and Senate Banking Committee’s Federal Reserve Hearings, NAFCU wrote to oppose the creation of a central bank digital currency, support disclosure of entities with access to Federal Reserve Bank accounts and services, and request an extended timeline for compliance with the Fed’s rule on debit card network requirements.
Key Legislation
· Rep. French Hill (R-AR) introduced H.R. 1806, the Small LENDER Act, with cosponsors Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), the chairman of the House Small Business Committee, and Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO). This NAFCU-backed legislation would modify elements of the CFPB’s Section 1071 proposed rule to exempt small financial institutions and provide a longer compliance timeline. NAFCU wrote to Rep. Hill to thank him for his leadership on this issue.
· Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the Senate version of the Credit Union Board Modernization Act, S. 610. NAFCU wrote in support of this legislation that would reduce the required number of annual board meetings to six from the current requirement of 12 for credit unions in good financial condition. A companion bill has already passed the House.
· Three important pieces of legislation concerning the structure and function of the CFPB were introduced in March: the Transparency in CFPB Cost-Benefit Analysis Act (H.R. 1313), the Consumer Financial Protection Commission Act (H.R. 1410), and the Making the CFPB Accountable to Small Businesses Act (H.R. 1749). NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger provided a statement in support of the last of these, hailing the legislation’s requirement that the CFPB tailor regulations through the use of SBREFA review panels and thanking its sponsor, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI).
Meetings
· NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger met with NCUA Chairman Todd Harper to discuss credit union involvement with the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
· The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concluded its March meeting March 22, where the committee raised rates 25 basis points to a range of 4.75 to 5 percent – the ninth consecutive meeting ending with a hike. NAFCU Economists Curt Long and Noah Yosif discuss the FOMC and other economic issues in their new Quarterly Video Update.
· The NCUA Board met March 16 and finalized the subordinated debt rule, granting two previous NAFCU requests related to the Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP) and maximum maturity limits.
Regulatory Alerts/Rulemakings
· March 24: NAFCU published a Regulatory Alert analyzing the CFPB’s request for information on data brokers and other entities that collect and sell consumer information.
· March 29: The CFPB finally published its proposed rule on credit card late fees in the Federal Register. Member credit unions can submit comments through NAFCU’s Regulatory Alert; comments are due to the Bureau May 3.
· March 30: The CFPB finalized its rule to implement section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, related to small business lending data collection.
Comment Letters
· March 29: NAFCU wrote to the CFPB in support of an ICBA trial disclosure application meant to increase the availability of affordable single-close construction-to-permanent loans.
· March 23: NAFCU wrote to the FHFA requesting reinstatement of the seasoned bulk transaction window.
· March 17: NAFCU submitted comments to FinCEN on the report that will be used to collect beneficial ownership information.
· March 15: NAFCU wrote to NCUA Chairman Todd Harper defending credit unions’ compliance with the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E in response to a letter from Senators Reed (D-RI), Menendez (D-NJ), Warren (D-MA), Brown (D-OH), and Warner (D-VA) that incorrectly claimed credit unions and other depository institutions are neglecting their responsibility to address fraud in the Zelle network.
· NAFCU signed on to two joint letters in March, one to the CFPB requesting that the Bureau release the data and analysis underlying its proposed rule on credit card late fees and one to the FCC making recommendations to improve the redress process for incorrectly blocked messages.
Share This
Related Resources
Add to Calendar 2024-05-02 14:00:00 2024-05-02 14:00:00 Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans About the Webinar An Incident Response (IR) plan is crucial for guiding credit unions through major incidents efficiently and effectively. However, many IR plans lack resilience, making them less adaptable to the evolving threat landscape. Join us for our webinar Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans where DefenseStorm cyber experts Elizabeth Houser and James Bruhl will delve into the importance of resiliency within cybersecurity IR plans. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn how to: Ensure IR plan accessibility so that all team members with assigned roles are prepared for effective incident response. Conduct efficient and regular reviews to ensure roles and responsibilities are current, tools are relevant, and compliance requirements are met. Implement and utilize tabletops to regularly test the effectiveness of your IR plan. Enhance preparedness, efficiency, and confidence among responders. View On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans
preferred partner
DefenseStorm
Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-30 14:00:00 2024-04-30 14:00:00 State of Consumer Credit: How Behaviors have Shifted and Trends in US Bankcard Benchmarks About the Webinar In an era marked by volatility and evolving credit trends such as historic inflation and the rise of BNPL, credit unions must adapt to mitigate risks effectively. Join the experts at FICO in exploring how to leverage FICO Scores to enhance competitiveness while maintaining stability and compliance. Key Takeaways: Learn about the latest in consumer credit behaviors and score distributions since the pandemic Take a closer look at major US bankcard trends in comparison to the credit union industry, such as average card spend, balance, missed payments and more. View On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
State of Consumer Credit: How Behaviors have Shifted and Trends in US Bankcard Benchmarks
preferred partner
FICO
Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-25 14:00:00 2024-04-25 14:00:00 ChatGPT: What AI can do for you! ChatGPT has been created with one main objective – to predict the next word in a sentence, based on what's typically happened in the gigabytes of text data that it's been trained on. Did you ever hear of the saying, “People fear the unknown?” Artificial intelligence scares people, but it is the future, and you need to understand the tools and resources it offers. It’s also about saving time, that’s what technology and in this case, artificial intelligence can do for you. If you want to save time and have a better quality of life, this training is for you. Once you give ChatGPT a question or prompt, it passes through the AI model and the chatbot produces a response based on the information you've given and how that fits into its vast amount of training data. It's during this training that ChatGPT has learned what word, or sequence of words, typically follows the last one in a given context. During this webinar, ChatGPT: What AI can do for you, you’ll discover the background, purpose, usability, and the pros and cons. Don't miss this opportunity! Key Takeaways Learn the background of AI Understand the purpose of AI Identify the pros and cons Register Now $295 Members | $395 Nonmembers(Additional $50 for USB)One registration gives your entire team access to the live webinar and on-demand recording until April 25, 2025Go to the Online Training Center to access the webinar after purchase » Who Should Attend NCRMs Risk titles Education Credits NCRMs will recieve 1.0 CEUs for participating in this webinar Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
ChatGPT: What AI can do for you!
Credits: NCRM
Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-25 14:00:00 2024-04-25 14:00:00 Unifying Two Different Executive Benefits Programs About the Webinar In part one we discussed how to retain key positions during a time of transition. In part two, we will look at how to combine executive benefits programs from two different organizations into a single high-performing program. Evaluating each program includes many different facets, from strategy and expense to performance and servicing. This session will provide important considerations, whether or not you have pending M&A activity. Key Takeaways: Is the plan design both retentive and efficient? Is the benefit expense properly mitigated? Does the legal agreement reflect the board’s intent? View On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Unifying Two Different Executive Benefits Programs
preferred partner
Gallagher
Webinar
Get daily updates.
Subscribe to NAFCU today.