Time for Congress to Evenly Apply Accountability Rules to Credit Unions
Last month, the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued the 2023 Interagency Final Rule on the Community Reinvestment Act. The long-awaited and massive rulemaking modernizes how federal regulators assess CRA compliance for banks with more than $600 million in assets. One thing you won’t find
Spending on Stadiums
Together with the credit union industry’s outdated tax exemption and its continued campaign to whittle down field of membership requirements, multimillion-dollar stadium naming rights agreements have become a central component of how these special purpose financial institutions market themselves to new segments of consumers. This trifecta has created a powerful feedback loop in which credit
Field of Membership: Lack of “Common Bond” Delegitimizes Credit Union Movement
How do I join a credit union? What are the membership criteria? Am I eligible? Throughout much of the twentieth century, these were reasonable questions as credit unions confined membership, both by practice and under the law, to clearly defined communities in underserved areas. Individual members were tied together by a “common bond,” typically
Taxpayers Shouldn’t Subsidize Modern Credit Unions
American taxpayers have once again completed their civic duty of meeting the IRS filing deadline, but for a $2.17 trillion portion of our economy – the industry comprising America’s 4,760 credit unions – April 18 was just another Tuesday. That’s right – the $2 trillion credit union industry pays zero federal taxes. Since it has
Credit Union Modernization or Expansion?
In December 2022, over 200 credit union lobbyists descended on Charleston, South Carolina, to plot their advocacy strategy for the year ahead. Participants made clear that the credit union industry plans to continue paying lip service to serving low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities, while directing its efforts toward expanding into new affluent markets.
