Following the release of the 2016 National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) Report on Credit Unions, the NAFCU board met with Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lael Brainard on this week to discuss the findings of the report.
The report examined five areas critical to the industry: credit union trends, credit unions’ service to their members, credit unions’ use of Federal Reserve services, legislative and regulatory issues facing credit unions, as well as challenges to the future of the industry.
This was the 24th year the NAFCU has met with the Fed, in an annual discussion of issues relevant to credit unions and the financial services industry.
“Our 2016 NAFCU Report on Credit Unions shows that despite the challenging legislative and regulatory climate, credit unions serve a vital role in serving approximately 105 million members and the nation’s economy, and are well-positioned for the future,” Dan Berger, NAFCU president and CEO, said.
Also on the docket for the meeting were regulatory compliance challenges facing credit unions and the costs associated with the increasingly prevalent data breaches among retailers. Jeanne Kucey, president and CEO of JetStream Federal Credit Union and a vice chair of the NAFCU board, said that while credit unions have a higher share of first mortgage, vehicle and revolving loans than they did 10 years ago, consolidation has continued to be the nature of the industry in the face of high compliance costs.
During this meeting, the importance of both tax exemptions to the credit unions and the low cap on interchange fees was also stressed in terms of legislative and regulatory concerns for the future.