WASHINGTON (7/23/15)--A bill containing numerous CUNA-supported regulatory relief provisions will be marked up by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee this morning.
The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (FSGG) contains the entirety of Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-Ala.) Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015 (S. 1484).
S. 1484 passed the Senate Banking Committee in June and was successfully added to the FSGG bill Wednesday. The Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved FSGG Wednesday.
CUNA supports a number of provisions contained in S. 1484, including ones that allow privately insured credit unions to become members of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) system; direct federal banking agencies to conduct a study of appropriate capital requirements for mortgage servicing assets; require the National Credit Union Administration to hold public budget hearings; ensure FHLB membership for credit unions with under $1 billion in assets will have parity with similar-sized banks; and remove escrow for future insurance payments from the points and fees calculation.
CUNA also supports provisions that would change the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). These include: bringing agency funding into the appropriations process; changing leadership to a five-person board; repealing the prohibition on Congress reviewing transfers from the Federal Reserve system to the CFPB; and requiring the bureau to submit quarterly reports on its activities.
Also included in the appropriations bill is $221 million for the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and $2 million for the NCUA’s Community Development Revolving Loan Fund.
The markup is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. (ET).