U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz participated in a roundtable discussion with 40 credit union leaders from across North Dakota and South Dakota on April 8.
Matz shared some of the agency's regulatory relief initiatives, in light of the fact that Dakota credit unions face a lending cap on business and commercial loans of 12.25% of their assets.
Matz mentioned that the agency is working on adding supplemental capital, expanding fields of membership, removing the fixed asset limit caps at 5%, permitting asset securitization and eliminating the underwriter requirements on home mortgage originations.
“We had very productive discussions with Senator Heitkamp and credit unions in North Dakota,” NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz said. “I've always said that I find the most effective way to gather information about credit unions is to meet with credit union officials. This trip once again validated this approach, so I'm glad that Senator Heitkamp asked me to visit. ”We learned more about problems with mobile home lending, cybersecurity, credit card fraud and ways to streamline member business lending. I'll be using this feedback to improve NCUA's rules and extend our regulatory relief efforts. For those problems outside of NCUA's jurisdiction, I'll be sharing what we learned with my fellow regulators at other agencies.”
The event, organized cooperatively between Heitkamp's office and the Credit Union Association of the Dakotas, took place in Bismarck, N.D. Heitkamp, a member of the Senate Banking committee, moderated the discussion.
Some credit union leaders cited the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform legislation as a source of regulatory burden that stands in the way of serving their members.
In response to this concern, Heitkamp said, “Too-big-to-fail policy and new rules that were meant to prevent bad lending practices and protect consumers has unintentionally meant that smaller institutions are almost too small to succeed.”
Credit unions also shared information about lending-related issues, especially in North Dakota's northwestern corridor, where availability and affordability of housing remains an issue.
“It was an honor and pleasure to host the Chairman and her officers at our credit union,” Paul Brucker, president/CEO of Railway Credit Union, said. “We found them to be open, honest and willing to have serious dialogue on some items that would allow us to better serve our members. We appreciate Senator Heitkamp and the Credit Union Association of the Dakotas for having the foresight to put this event together on behalf of our credit unions and members.”
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