Compliance Blog

Posted by Anthony Demangone

Here are a few items to start your week.

"A" for effort.  Elizabeth Warren has accomplished one of her goals - to visit a small, independent banker in every state.   She's certainly getting a message that is near and dear to credit unions.  Here's a snippet of a speech she recently gave to community bankers:

During my many visits with you, I’ve heard about the high cost of regulatory compliance. I understand the difficulty of determining what is or is not required by a particular regulation – and the costs that creates. I appreciate the widespread anxiety and frustration over the future of community banks and other small financial institutions. I know that you want a regulatory structure that doesn’t require an army of lawyers. Big banks may be able to afford to hire all those lawyers, but you cannot.

This is what you have said to me in visits all around the country: Community banks work hard to build long-term partnerships with the families they serve. Community banks didn’t cause this financial crisis. And badly done regulation can further weaken our community banks, significantly increasing the pressures they face. How should the new consumer bureau incorporate these lessons into its work?

FCU Usury Ceiling.  The NCUA board did extend the 18% usury ceiling for an additional 18 months, through September 10, 2012.  If you need to show documentation for their decision, visit Letter to Federal Credit Union 11-FCU-04.

SAFE Act.  The NMLS SAFE Act Compliance Countdown blog notes the existence of four how-to seminars that should help your credit union navigate the SAFE Act MLO registration process. 

Monday Morning Humor? A hat tip to Jason for this gem. I'm not sure whether the following is funny, or a tad depressing.  Public Citizen put together this simple chart that shows the maze that federal regulators must navigate when they create regulations. 

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