WASHINGTON—NCUA has filed a brief seeking dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) against the agency and its member business lending rule.
The motion to dismiss was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
In September of this year the ICBA filed a lawsuit against NCUA challenging what it claims is the agency’s “unlawful commercial lending rule” issued earlier this year.
In a joint statement, both CUNA and NAFCU on Wednesday reaffirmed their support for NCUA and its MBL rule, and for the agency’s challenge to the ICBA suit.
“As our two organizations have stated, the NCUA acted well within its authority when it issued its member business lending rule. Submitting a motion to dismiss this baseless attack is the logical next step for the agency in defending that right. For our part, the CUNA/league system and NAFCU will continue to work collaboratively to defend the NCUA’s authority to interpret the Federal Credit Union Act. Ensuring small businesses have access to much-needed capital remains a top priority for the credit union industry,” said Dan Berger, president/CEO of NAFCU, and Jim Nussle, president/CEO of CUNA.
NCUA’s memorandum in support of the motion to dismiss can be found in CUToday.info’s The gov.
But that is not the only legal front NCUA may be defending against bankers. As CUToday.info reported, a lawsuit from the ICBA over NCUA’s new field of membership rules could be coming also be forthcoming. CUNA and NAFCU believe that will happen.
“We expect that the bankers will launch a judicial challenge, and as Jim Nussle said late last week, we will be there to defend this rule and NCUA’s actions,” said CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan earlier this week.
NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt told CUToday.info that the bankers sued against field of membership “in Utah and they did it in Pennsylvania. So it is certainly likely that they will sue (on the new FOM rules) as well,” said Hunt, adding that NAFCU will stand behind NCUA in supporting the final rule as well as the recent FOM proposal.
The ICBA has suggested a suit against NCUA and FOM could be coming. Following the FOM rule passage late last month, the ICBA expressed what it called “strong opposition” to the rule, saying that NCUA has again demonstrated its “credit union industry cheerleading status.”
CUNA and NAFCU, however, say the rule is consistent with the Federal Credit Union Act, the Administrative Procedures Act and the Credit Union Membership Access Act.