WASHINGTON (4/5/16)--The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) has asked Congress to officially enter its groundbreaking regulatory burden study into the record for the U.S. Senate Banking Committee in advance of today’s hearing on the effects of consumer finance regulations. The hearing is one of two conducted this week by the Senate Banking Committee; the second will feature testimony from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray.

“We’re going to take the opportunity this hearing presents us with to formally deliver our regulatory burden study to the committee and encourage members of the committee to ask panelists about ways to reduce regulatory burden for credit unions,” said Ryan Donovan, CUNA’s chief advocacy officer.

CUNA, along with Cornerstone Advisors, conducted a rigorous analysis of the current financial impact on credit unions, and how much it has changed since 2010. It found combined effect of increased costs and reduced revenues due to regulation amounted to at least $7.2 billion in financial impact for credit unions in 2014 alone.

Witnesses at the hearing are: Leonard Chanin of Morrison and Foerster LLP; David Hirchsmann, president/CEO of U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness; Todd Zywicki, professor at the Georgetown School of Law; and the Rev. Willie Gable Jr., chair of the National Baptist Convention USA Housing and Economic Development Commission.

Two of those names are familiar to CUNA’s advocacy efforts. Chanin wrote CUNA’s legal opinion memo on the CFPB’s statutory exemption authority. Zywicki presented at the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. (ET), and will be streamed live.

On Thursday, the Senate Banking Committee will hear from Cordray about the CFPB’s semiannual report, similar to the hearing several weeks ago when the director appeared before the House Financial Services Committee.

“We’ll use this as an opportunity to further advance our argument that the CFPB has much broader, and clearer, exemption authority than its used to date, and it should use its authority to tailor regulations toward abusers of consumers,” Donovan said.

Cordray’s testimony is scheduled for 10 a.m. (ET) Thursday, and will also be streamed live.