Congress and NCUA should work with credit unions to pursue a legislative and regulatory approach aimed at ensuring credit unions can continue to serve their millions of members, CUNA and NAFCU wrote to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and House Financial Services Committees this week.

Federal financial regulators, including NCUA Chairman Todd Harper, are scheduled to testify before the committees this week. 

“It is critical that the Committee understand the immense pressure credit unions—large and small—are under in terms of compliance and operational challenges,” the letter reads. “This is evident by the ongoing consolidation within the industry which will only be accelerated should the recent proposal on Regulation II at the Fed be enacted. Similarly, the NCUA Board must appreciate the risks to the industry and take appropriate action to ensure its ongoing viability.”

The organizations:

• Continue to strongly support NCUA’s status as an independent regulator and insurer.
• Note NCUA’s budget continues to increase despite industry consolidation and recommend several ways NCUA can enhance its budget efficiency.
• Strongly disagree with any suggested changes to the Federal Credit Union Act related to the share insurance fund.
• Express significant concerns with NCUA proposing to expand consumer protection examinations without reasons for doing so.
• Strongly disagree with providing NCUA direct supervisory authority over third-party vendors and credit union service organizations.
• Support enhancing NCUA’s Central Liquidity Facility by allowing corporate credit unions to act as agents for smaller (under $250 million in assets), non-CLF member credit unions.
• Call on NCUA to issue guidance allowing credit unions to offer digital asset custodial services or wallets to credit union members.

The letter also shares concerns with the Federal Reserve’s proposal to alter the debit card interchange cap, and calls on Congress to support legislation to:

• Allow all credit unions, regardless of charter type, to add underserved areas to their fields of membership.
• Expand the federal credit union loan maturity limit,
• Exempt loans made to veteran-owned business from the member business lending cap.