A year in review: Credit union accomplishments in 2016

As we approach the end of the year, it is always a good time to reflect on the many great accomplishments made throughout 2016. I’m positive that 10 years from now, when we all look at this past year, we still will be shocked at how it all played out. None of us likely thought that next month, the 45th President of the United States would be Donald J. Trump, but here we are!

From a credit union advocacy perspective, 2016 was also remarkable. Major victories at the NCUA on more than a handful of issues help ensure that credit unions will continue to be able to meet the needs of their members and that consumers across the country will continue to have strong, safe and sound cooperative credit options.

Thanks to help from Congress, we made progress toward getting the CFPB to acknowledge and use its statutory exemption authority to mitigate the harmful impact of rules, designed for big banks and abusers of consumers, on credit unions and their members. And, back in Alabama and Florida, we experienced the most successful legislative sessions in recent memory.

A glimpse of specific accomplishments for 2016 on the state level include :

• For the second time in three years, the Alabama legislature unanimously passed legislation updating the Alabama Credit Union Act. Working with our State Act Work Group, the League identified several changes needed to ensure a better operating environment for Alabama credit unions. We will continue to be committed to looking at the Act and making more meaningful changes in the future.
• In Florida, the LSCU worked with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta to pass legislation opening up a secondary market mortgage program to state-chartered credit unions, a big win for Florida’s state charters.

We are going to need to continue to work together like this because 2017 promises its own set of challenges and opportunities. The political environment is ripe for comprehensive tax reform, and it’s high on everyone’s agenda. Credit unions need to be prepared to engage in this process (and we are), emphasizing that credit unions are tax exempt because of their structure as not-for-profit financial cooperatives and their mission to promote thrift and provide access to credit for provident purposes.

Read the full review here.