Following a committee hearing on regulatory burden, a number of members of Congress remarked that credit unions did not have hard data to back up their argument. So, CUNA commissioned Cornerstone Advisors, a credit union and community bank consulting firm, to conduct an analysis of the financial impact of regulation on credit unions. What Cornerstone found should have a major impact with lawmakers and the media. The total financial impact of regulation on credit unions was $7.2 billion in 2014 which is about a 40 percent increase since 2010.
The study also broke down the financial impact by state. Credit unions in Alabama felt a $109 million financial burden due to excessive regulations, while credit unions in Florida felt a $269 million impact. Combined that is a nearly $380 million impact that redirected time, resources, and capital away from credit union members in Alabama and Florida. Most of the impact was felt in staff time and having to increase staff to comply with regulations.
Read more about the financial impact of the study and how credit unions will use it next week during Hill visits at the CUNA GAC in Monday’s President’s Point.