WASHINGTON—The American Bankers Association wasted little time in challenging NCUA’s new field of membership proposal, sending a letter to NCUA Wednesday before the proposal is voted on today in the agency’s open board meeting.
In the letter to NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz, copied to the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees, the ABA warns that the agency is guilty of “field of membership overreach.”
The ABA letter, signed by incoming ABA president and CEO Rob Nichols, calls on NCUA to “demonstrate that it is not a cheerleader for the industry it is charged with supervising,” adding that “changes that exceed NCUA’s statutory authority or that alter the competitive dynamic between banks and credit unions will be vigorously opposed, using all available tools.”
The bankers’ statement led NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger to respond with a letter of his own to the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees in which he rebuked the ABA for “misinformation” on the potential credit union field-of-membership reforms.
In the letter, Berger wrote, "NAFCU is disappointed that the ABA has chosen to attack this proposal before it is even released and the details are known. It would seem that they are only interested in attacking credit unions and their 101 million members, rather than creating sound public policy. Perhaps the banking trade association should have paid this much attention to their own members and actions prior to the financial crisis. If so, maybe their members, the nation’s big banks, would not have faced over $100 billion in fines, settlements and buy-backs stemming from the financial crisis.
"Despite what the ABA claims, we acknowledge that legislation is necessary to reform aspects of the Federal Credit Union Act’s limitations on chartering," continued Berger. "While we urge your committees to consider legislative reforms for FOM, we firmly believe that NCUA can enact constructive regulatory relief under the agency’s current authority by streamlining its chartering and FOM procedures, as well as by removing all non-statutory constraints on FOM chartering and expansion."
Berger added, “There are many areas where credit unions and banks can work together, such as seeking regulatory relief and greater data security. We would prefer to work together with them to bring about reforms that will help both of our members.”