Compliance Blog

Written by Michael Coleman, Regulatory Compliance Counsel

Programming Note: As Steve mentioned yesterday, for the month of August, we'll be blogging on Monday, Wednesday and Friday rather than our usual every business day.

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Regulatory Relief. We blog a lot about the regulatory burden faced by credit unions today (it even has its own category on our blog), and I have been known to describe the current regulatory environment as “The Reg-pocalypse.” Credit union professionals know that this is a serious issue facing the credit union industry. Just ask any compliance officer, they’ll probably just point to the phone book(s) sized set of recent final rules they are trying to wade through. That being said, it’s one thing for me to sit at my computer and shout into the vast expanse of the internet blogosphere about the issue, but the real question is: “What can we do about it?”

Which brings me to the issue of regulatory relief. My colleagues here at NAFCU tirelessly advocate on behalf of credit unions to provide much needed regulatory relief to the industry. On Wednesday July 31st NAFCU’s Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler sent a letter to Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi in support of the regulatory relief efforts found in the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act (H.R. 367), here is an excerpt: ^ 

“The REINS Act would make an important step toward regulatory relief by requiring any executive branch regulation with an economic impact in excess of $100 million as scored by the Office of Management and Budget to come before Congress for an up-or-down vote before it could be enacted. NAFCU believes putting this legislative process into place could help ensure additional accountability from the Administration and Congress regardless of which political party is in the majority.

As Congress looks for ways to cut down on duplicative and over-burdensome federal regulation, we urge you to also support efforts to provide regulatory relief for credit unions such as legislation introduced by Representative Gary Miller—H.R. 2572, the Regulatory Relief for Credit Unions Act of 2013. This legislation reflects key provisions we shared with Congress on February 12th of this year as part of NAFCU’s five-point plan for credit union regulatory relief.”

As Brad points out, the REINS Act is definitely a step in the right direction. He also referenced NAFCU's Five-Point Plan for Regulatory Relief which calls on Congress to provide comprehensive broad-based regulatory relief for credit unions, and H.R. 2572 introduced by Representative Gary Miller (R-CA). For additional information on the Miller bill and NAFCU's Five-Point plan, make sure to check out NAFCU's Regulatory Relief webpage, and this blog post.

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NAFCU's Congressional Caucus. You might still be asking yourself: “OK, regulatory relief is a big deal, but what can my credit union do about it?” NAFCU’s 2013 Congressional Caucus is just around the corner - September 8-11 in Washington, D.C.  Caucus is the perfect time for your credit union to meet with your Senators and Representatives and let them know about the increasing regulatory burden on your credit union. Don’t miss this opportunity to make your credit union’s voice heard! Sign up today.

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August Compliance Monitor. The latest NAFCU Compliance Monitor is available for download (NAFCU login required). This month’s issue contains the following in depth articles:

• Small Creditor Portfolio Exemption for QMs Explained
• Lessons Learned from the CFPB’s Recent MILES Enforcement Action

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Have a great weekend everyone!