Pub. 12 2015 Issue 3

O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S 10 You helped make clear to Congress that such a bill would be unacceptable to the nation’s community banks. The Dangers of a Captive Regulator GOV. FRANK KEATING, PRESIDENT AND CEO American Bankers Association WASHINGTON UPDATE N CUA’s latest plan to loosen the reins on credit unions and allow themto vest further fromtheir mission has bankers seeing red. The regulatory end-run would give the already tax-exempt $1 trillion industry new and potentially risky lending powers. It’s an audacious proposal that must be stopped-and you can help. First, some background. Acting as cheerlead- er instead of credit union supervisor, NCUA in June issued a proposal that grants the credit union industry’s wishes for increased business lending authority. Specifically, the proposal would: • Widen loopholes to the member busi- ness lending cap by “clarifying” that non- member business loan participations do not count towards the statutory cap and by eliminating regulatory oversight of the concentrations of these loans. • Make the statutory cap meaningless by allowing certain credit unions to exceed the member business loan statutory authority. In fact, if both the proposed business lending and pending capital rules are adopted as proposed, the statu- tory cap could nearly double without any congressional approval. • Remove important safety-and-sound- ness checks and balances by, for in- stance, eliminating the requirement that borrowers pledge personal assets-along with business assets-as collateral for new business loans.