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...because of regulatory concerns

Part one in a series about the value of League membership

One of credit unions’ top concerns is preserving a regulatory environment that protects members without inhibiting credit unions’ ability to deliver services and grow.

Your League monitors both state and federal rules and regulations from when they’re first proposed through their implementation, using input from credit unions to shape the specific requirements credit unions must follow under the law. Together we accomplished a lot on the regulatory front in 2011. For example, we:

Preserved an exemption from the interchange fee cap for Wisconsin credit unions. We continue to monitor merchant practices to ensure the carve-out is applied. We also continue to fight for additional income to fairly reimburse credit unions for their disproportionate cost burden related to fraud and fraud prevention.

Analyzed hundreds of pages of rules and regulations. On your behalf, League staff spent hundreds of hours in 2011 monitoring the proposals that state and federal regulatory agencies were drafting or updating to identify and communicate opportunities for improvement.

Coordinated responses to regulatory comment calls. By providing coordinated feedback through CapWiz, credit unions ensure that regulators consider the practical aspects of implementing rules and regulations – including risks, costs, human resources and more – before they are finalized.

Forged relationships with agency staff. League staff and credit union representatives met regularly with regulators and examiners so that – by addressing their concerns and intent – we could better shape our input on regulatory issues.

Formed a Regulatory Advocacy Council. An advisory group representing a cross section of credit union sizes, communities, product offerings and fields of membership now provides input and feedback to help communicate the complexities and operational impact of new regulations as part of The League’s comment call responses.

Strengthened our platform for regulatory advocacy. We collaborated with partners like CUNA, CUNA Mutual Group and others to ensure a broad knowledge base from which to affect the regulatory process.

"Credit unions can minimize their regulatory burden by working together through The League to provide regulators front-end input – practical insights to help them implement the law through rules and regulations," said Jo Whiting, The League's Executive Vice President/Chief Advocacy Officer. "This input has grown in importance as regulators have felt greater pressure to ensure the soundness of financial institutions – but at the same time they have added substantial regulatory burdens that can undermine credit unions’ ability to serve their members. When we speak together, we have a much better opportunity to be heard."

Watch League News for more about what we have accomplished together in 2011 as a united League. The League's homepage links to all of the articles in our series.