Credit Union National Association (CUNA) officials are encouraging the the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to delegate large credit union supervision to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
The CFPB has forwarded correspondence to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger supporting efforts enabling NCUA to oversee credit unions over $10 billion in assets.
“At the end of 2018, only nine of the nearly 5,500 credit unions had assets greater than the $10 billion threshold and were, therefore, subject to Bureau’s examination and enforcement authority,” Jim Nussle, CUNA president and CEO wrote. “We argue that not only does the Bureau have the authority to delegate the supervisory responsibilities for credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets to the NCUA, but it should do so based on credit unions’ deep history of consumer protection, the support this action has received from NCUA, the protections in the Dodd-Frank Act that preserve the Bureau’s authority, and the opportunity this action presents to apply these supervisory resources to other critical Bureau priorities.”
CUNA maintains each of the five largest banks has been the subject of more consumer complaints individually than the entire credit union industry while noting credit unions have been subject to 8,336 complaints since the Bureau began accepting consumers complaints – representing 0.66 percent of all complaints submitted to the Bureau.
According to CUNA, credit unions are best positioned to succeed when supervised and examined by a regulator particularly familiar with their unique characteristics. There is no regulator more familiar with credit unions than NCUA, the association said.