adminIn more details on the House Financial Services Committee panel vote approving H.R. 5983 (Financial CHOICE Act of 2016), Jeb Hensarling (R- Texas) celebrated the success of the financial reform bill he first introduced in June. In a letter sent to Hensarling this week, CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle praised the bill, which he said “would help to relieve some of the regulatory burdens that credit unions currently face so that they can better serve their members.”
Nussle added that the CHOICE Act provides more relief to big banks than to credit unions.
“We believe much more should be done through this or similar legislation to modernize the federal credit union charter with a goal of reducing credit unions’ regulatory burden and expanding consumer and small business access to credit unions,” wrote Nussle. “While we certainly appreciate your inclusion of provisions that will help in this regard, we encourage you to go much further to provide relief for credit unions. In a bill that makes so many changes to the way banks are regulated, surely there is space to tackle major improvements to the credit union charter.”
The bill includes a key measure that would allow banks an alternative regulatory framework, or “off-ramp,” from Dodd-Frank requirements and Basel III capital rules in exchange for holding more capital. The bill also touches on hot-button issues, including a provision that would repeal Dodd-Frank’s Durbin amendment, which capped interchange fees for debit cards, and another provision to reform the structure of the CFPB.
