WASHINGTON—CUNA and NAFCU have joined with other financial services trade associations to urge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to postpone its consideration of Figure Bank's application for a national bank charter pending evaluation of public comments and consultation with the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the Department of Justice.
Separately, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments in several cases of interest to credit unions.
In the letter, the trades raised concerns related to the potential policy, legal, and systemic implications they argued granting a national bank charter to a Figure Bank would have on the financial system.
Five Arguments
The trade groups five main arguments are:
- Granting an application for an uninsured national bank would violate the Federal Reserve Act
- As an uninsured national bank, Figure Bank would evade core prudential standards and limits that Congress has established to ensure the safety and soundness of banks and protect financial stability
- Granting a national bank charter to an uninsured depository institution would represent a significant policy shift requiring the need for congressional action
- The public information released by the OCC includes only a skeletal description of Figure Bank's proposed activities and does not provide sufficient factual basis for public comment on the application
- The OCC should coordinate with the Department of Justice to determine whether an uninsured national bank would raise concerns under Section 21(a)(2) of the Banking Act of 1933
SCOTUS Hears Arguments
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court this week is holding oral arguments for two cases that could have implications for credit unions: one challenging the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS, or autodialer) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and another related to the single-director structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
Earlier, the court heard arguments related to a class action lawsuit brought against Facebook that claimed the company's texts to consumers with security notifications violated the TCPA. The issue the court specifically considered is whether an ATDS "encompasses any device that can store and automatically dial telephone numbers – even if that device cannot store or produce them “using a random or sequential number generator." Lower courts have been split on their interpretation of the definition, NAFCU noted.
The Supreme Court is also hearing arguments in a lawsuit challenging the FHFA's leadership structure. The court agreed to hear the case shortly after it determined the CFPB's single-director structure was unconstitutional. Both NAFCU and CUNA have called for the CFPB's structure to become a multi-person commission or board.
The court will also hear arguments about the constitutionality of the government-sponsored enterprises' (GSEs) net worth sweeps, under which the enterprises send part of their profits to the Treasury Department as both continue to operate under the conservatorship of the federal government.