WASHINGTON—CUNA Wednesday sent three letters to Congress prior to hearings in the Small Business Committee, Special Committee on Aging, and the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.
Highlights from the letters are below:
- CUNA sent a letter to the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit ahead of Wednesday’s hearing titled, “Legislative Proposals to Reform the Current Data Security and Breach Notification Regulatory Regime.” President/CEO Jim Nussle said CUNA supports the subcommittee’s continued focus in securing new legislation that protects credit unions from data breaches. CUNA said it is working with members of Congress to shed light on the issue and ensure consumers are not at further risk.
- CUNA sent a letter to the Senate Special Committee on Aging expressing support for the hearing entitled, “Stopping Senior Scams.” In the letter Nussle highlights elder abuse as one of the most common and pernicious forms of financial exploitation. “As many credit unions provide financial services to seniors and their families, CUNA strongly supports efforts to help protect elders from financial exploitation and empower seniors to make responsible decisions regarding their financial lives. We further reiterate our support for S. 223, the Senior$afe Act, as it represents an important step forward to improving the ability of credit unions to protect seniors by providing a safe harbor for financial employees who disclose concerns about financial exploitation to the authorities,” CUNA stated.
- CUNA sent a letter to the House Small Business Committee to express support for the hearing entitled “Regulatory Reform and Rollback: The Effects on Small Businesses.” “Dodd-Frank regulation, which favors the largest banks and other non-bank financial service providers, has made it more difficult for credit unions to provide affordable financial services to their members,” notes CUNA. In the letter Nussle refers to a recent study (2017 Regulatory Burden Financial Impact Study: An Elevated New Normal) which supports this claim. “Findings show that the regulatory burden for credit unions has increased to an elevated new normal, totaling an estimated $6.1 billion in 2016. Costs are up more than $800 million compared with 2014. That is a 15.1% increase, which far exceeds the 2.8% inflation rate over the two-year period. In total, the credit union regulatory burden costs for 2016 translate to $115 per credit union household. As Congress is currently considering S 2155 CUNA supports its enactment. The common-sense regulations will help credit unions in many ways, including giving members more access to credit,” wrote Nussle.