Digital ledger technology allows many industries to innovate, but must come with consumer protections, CUNA wrote to the Senate Agriculture Committee Wednesday. CUNA also reiterated its call for Congress to allow credit unions to offer regulated digital asset services.

Credit unions have significant concern with the potential for cryptocurrency and digital asset platforms to exploit regulatory loopholes if not subject to substantial regulation, CUNA wrote to the House Financial Services Committee Tuesday.

Both chambers of Congress are in Washington, D.C. this week, and will consider a measure funding the federal government and National Flood Insurance Program through March 11. Funding for both will expire Feb. 18.

Senators and Representatives from agriculture-producing states wrote to NCUA Chairman Todd Harper Monday with concerns over the agency’s description of regulating climate-related financial risks in its strategic plan.

Credit unions are highly supportive of the creation of a beneficial ownership database and hope it will greatly ease meeting customer due diligence obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) CUNA wrote to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Monday.

NCUA issued two Regulatory Alerts on credit union requirements for submission of HMDA data. One covers submission of 2021 HMDA data, which is due to NCUA by March 1, the other alert covers HMDA collection requirements for 2022.

CUNA Senior Economist Dawit Kebede notes strong job growth in January despite an expected, temporary setback due to surging Omicron cases. Job growth was also strong in COVID-sensitive industries such as leisure and hospitality.

The House passed the CUNA/League-supported Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act Thursday night as an amendment attached to the America COMPETES Act.  The SAFE Banking Act would provide protections to financial institutions serving cannabis-based businesses where it is legal

The CUNA/League-supported SAFE Banking Act was added to the House’s America COMPETES Act, which will likely be voted on Friday. The SAFE Banking Act would provide protections to financial institutions serving cannabis-based businesses where it is legal.

Women- and minority-owned businesses often face barriers when it comes to access to credit and financial services, and credit unions recognize that access to capital is critical to ensuring the survival of many of small businesses.