WASHINGTON-In a meeting with Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Wayne Abernathy, CUNA thanked him for his "steadfast" support of credit unions' tax exemption and his commitment to reforming Prompt Corrective Action for credit unions. Though CUNA Associate General Counsel Mary Dunn said she could not share further the details of the March 16 discussions on credit unions' tax-exempt status, she was able to divulge a little more about Abernathy's position on PCA. "He is not budging one bit from his support for PCA reform, which is really heartening because Treasury was the chief drafter of the PCA language that's in H.R. 1151," she explained. Dunn added that CUNA would be getting back to Abernathy shortly with ideas on how PCA could be reformed to better fit credit unions. Though Dunn said Abernathy did not come out in support of the PCA language included in the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act (H.R. 3579), she stated, "What he does support absolutely is reforming Prompt Corrective Action in a way that takes greater account of risk and it's how you do that." She noted that this is a "very political year" with a presidential election. Dunn emphasized that credit unions are not looking for "wholesale changes" changes to PCA and that they do not support a weaker PCA system. Treasury is also working closely with NCUA on this, she said. "[T]hey want to get this right. They feel that when it was first put into 1151 it didn't quite fit credit unions and there's many ways to approach PCA reform. I think what all of us want to do is have at the end of the day a system and some improvements that really are going to do the job and that we're not still talking about PCA reform this time next year." -

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