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NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood will appear before the Senate Banking Committee today alongside other financial regulators. Ahead of the hearing, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler outlined a number of NAFCU priorities for the NCUA and regulatory relief in general.

NAFCU will monitor today's hearing and continue to advocate for a strong, independent NCUA as the credit union industry's sole regulator.

The hearing, "Oversight of Financial Regulators," is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. In addition to Hood, the committee will hear from Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams and Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles. The same panel is set to appear before the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow.

In addition to NAFCU's priorities, Thaler shared the association's position on:

• providing the NCUA with more flexibility in setting loan maturity limits through legislation (H.R. 1661);
• reducing credit unions' burden in implementing the current expected credit loss (CECL) standard; and
• transaction limitation requirements for savings deposits under Regulation D.

NAFCU continues to work diligently with regulators and lawmakers to obtain more guidance and relief for credit unions under the CECL standard. Last week, the association met with the NCUA to better understand the NCUA's approach to CECL examinations and share credit unions' compliance concerns. As a result of NAFCU's advocacy efforts, some CECL relief has been achieved; read more about the ongoing efforts here.

Hood met at NAFCU headquarters last week to discuss priorities for the agency. After being sworn in as chair, Hood identified several issues he plans to address during his tenure, many of which overlap with NAFCU priorities, including:

• reducing regulatory burdens – Hood has said he wants "effective but not excessive regulation";
• modernizing the federal credit union charter;
• addressing cybersecurity issues; and
• creating opportunities for credit unions to serve more communities.

Other regulatory priorities NAFCU has previously outlined for Hood: field of membership reforms, CECL, risk-based capital (RBC), payday alternative loans and more.