WASHINGTON (2/12/15)--CUNA will testify today on one of its top advocacy issues--the need for regulatory relief for credit unions. The Senate Banking Committee hearing starts at 10 a.m. (ET) and will be livestreamed.

Wally Murray, president/CEO, Greater Nevada CU, Carson City, Nev., with $474 million in assets, will testify on CUNA's behalf.

Key points in the testimony will include:

• Identification of several statutory barriers preventing credit unions from serving their members better and recommendations for more than two dozen statutory changes;
• Noting that the Federal Credit Union Act has not been updated in nearly 20 years and identifying several areas in need of improvement; and
• Discussing the rulemaking processes of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), encouraging the bureau to use its exemption authority more and supporting legislation to change the CFPB's leadership structure to a five-person board instead of a director.

View the video below to hear Murray discuss the hearing as he prepares for the hearing with CUNA staff.

"We'll also call on Congress to encourage the National Credit Union Administration to conduct additional cost-benefit analyses of its proposals, and require the NCUA to hold an annual public hearing on its budget," said Ryan Donovan, CUNA's chief advocacy officer.

Donovan also thanked Senate Banking Committee Chair Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) for moving forward so quickly in the early days of the 114th Congress to investigate the issue of regulatory relief for small financial institutions like credit unions.

"CUNA is grateful for the chairman's attention to the burden credit unions face amid the creeping crisis of regulatory complexity," Donovan noted.

Today's hearing, paired with a similar session for federal and state financial regulators' testimony on Tuesday, are the committee's first hearings of the year on financial institution issues.

The hearing today is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to noon (ET). More information on other witnesses, as well as the streaming live video, can be found on the Senate Banking Committee's website.