WASHINGTON–Saying the “cumulative regulatory burden on credit unions is near an all-time high,” CUNA has submitted a comment letter to NCUA calling on the agency to enact new rules only if there is a compelling need.
The CUNA letter was sent in response to NCUA’s solicitation of comment as part of its annual review of one-third of its regulations, which seeks to determine those that need to be updated, clarified, simplified or eliminated.
“Since the notice of the regulatory review is not required to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and is therefore not published in the Federal Register, potential commenters may be unaware of its issuance,” wrote CUNA Senior Director of Advocacy and Counsel Luke Martone. “To ensure adequate input is received, we ask the NCUA to consider ways to better highlight its request for comments on the regulatory review. Since the regulatory review process is outside the APA, comments are not made available for public inspection.”
The letter goes on to request NCUA, which does not publicly respond to commenters’ suggestions, not only post public comments on its website but also publicly respond to input received.
“Doing so would permit CUNA, and credit unions alike, to identify patterns and/or trends within the regulations included in the review,” Martone wrote. “This would allow for more effective and efficient advocacy, and ideally result in an improved operating environment for credit unions.”
Specific Points Raised
Specific points raised in the CUNA letter include:
- Federal credit union chartering and field of membership. CUNA said it applauds NCUA for its efforts to improve several field of membership processes, but also believes the agency can accomplish even more to improve the field of membership regulation.
- Federal credit union bylaws. CUNA said it supports aspects of changes to bylaw amendments, but raised concerns over reductions of individuals available to achieve a quorum and encouraged NCUA to permit electronic voting in elections if the credit union determines it’s the most appropriate way.
- Low-income credit unions. CUNA urged NCUA to review the low-income designation to provide a path for additional credit unions to qualify, provide greater transparency with respect to qualification thresholds and enhance certainty about what happens should a credit union drop below a threshold.
- Corporate credit unions: CUNA said it is looking forward to working with NCUA on a thorough review of the corporate credit union regulation to ensure the regulation does not impose unnecessary constraints on corporate credit unions’ ability to respond to innovations in the financial services marketplace.
The full letter can be found here.