WASHINGTON—Bankers have fired two more salvos in opposition to NCUA’s proposed field of membership rules, sending a letter to Congress last week and filing their comment with the agency.
The American Bankers Association and 53 state bankers associations wrote to the congressional taxation committees on Feb. 5 and urged them to “investigate the tax implications of the latest increase in powers” NCUA has proposed for credit unions.
“The proposed changes should call into question whether the 82-year-old tax exemption is appropriate in the modern era,” the groups wrote, calling for Congress to level the playing field between tax-paying banks and tax-exempt credit unions so that “all players can compete fairly and on an equal playing field in the financial services industry.”
For the complete letter, visit CUToday.info’s The gov.
In a comment letter to NCUA, the American Bankers Association stated that the proposed regulation would render the concept of a common bond between credit union members “meaningless.”
The ABA said NCUA’s proposal far “oversteps its regulatory authority, sidestepping Federal Credit Union Act requirements in the name of industry growth and replacing its own judgment for that of Congress.” The trade association urged NCUA “to reconsider this egregious overreach and shelve this proposal in favor of working with Congress to secure any desired modifications to credit union field of membership requirements.”
For the complete letter, visit CUToday.info’s The gov.
Bankers’ strong opposition to the FOM proposal is also reflected in the number of comment letters the agency has received—10,500 by Tuesday morning. NCUA last week estimated that banker letters comprise one-third of responses. The previous record for comments was 3,100 for the Member Business Lending rule last year