As senators prepare a jobs-creation package that CUNA and NAFCU hope will include an increase in the MBL cap, the trades yesterday wrote letters reiterating their support for the measure and criticized what NAFCU called the "shameless opposition" of the banking industry.

NAFCU Executive Vice President B. Dan Berger wrote lawmakers that raising the cap would be "an important step in the recovery of the small business community and the overall economy." He cited a 2001 Treasury Department study, which concluded that credit union business lending didn't negatively impact the profitability of other insured depository institutions and that credit union business loans are less risky than similar loans made by commercial banks.

CUNA President/CEO Dan Mica addressed points made in recent letters sent by the ABA and the Independent Community Bankers of America by noting that credit unions have a lower loan loss rate (44% for credit unions vs. 2.28% for banks) and that as a result of the NCUA's regulations in this area, raising the cap "would not be risk free but would certainly be low risk." Mica also noted that most of the credit union business lending is concentrated in those institutions that are already near the current cap of 12.25% of their assets.