At least one government agency – the U.S. Small Business Administration – has heard the message that credit unions are fed up and overwhelmed with excess regulation and compliance hindering their contributions to President Obama's push on jobs.
That message was delivered Monday by a group of Oregon/Washington CEOs during a White House/SBA Roundtable Forum conducted during a closed-door, 90-minute meeting in Tacoma, Wash., prior to the start of the inaugural annual convention of the Northwest Credit Union Association.
“I know of one credit union that now has four members of its management team having to spend all of their time just on the crush of regulation, so how in the world can they be generating new business or creating new jobs in the community?” asked William Anderson, president/CEO of the $152 million Mid Oregon CU in Bend, Ore.
As one example of compliance overkill, he said the new regulations issued under Dodd-Frank on credit card issuance and disclosure have been extremely time consuming “and take away from doing our job of lending to businesses and consumers.”
Anderson, who is chairman of the NWCUA, was joined by the group of 25 CU executives and hand-picked business leaders. They echoed anew the industry's call for lifting caps on business loans, delivering the appeal this time to Seattle SBA Administrator Calvin Goings as he conducted the Roundtable Forum at a Tacoma hotel.
“It came across pretty loud and clear to me about over-regulation and is one that I will take back to Washington,” Goings said, adding that he “appreciates these unfiltered concerns.”
The regulation overkill “simply gets in the way” of credit unions making job-creating business loans in local communities in both Oregon and Washington, said Elliot Gregg, president/CEO of the $840 million Kitsap CU of Bremerton, Wash.
Goings thanked the NWCUA for hosting the White House Business Council Forum with the SBA eager now to develop closer ties with CUs in the Northwest and elsewhere.
“We realize that credit unions serve a vital role in getting the economy on track as they provide loans to the dry cleaner, the restaurant and others,” said Goings. He stressed the White House wants “to make sure they are not left out in the president's jobs package.”
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