Reinforcing credit union priorities with new Treasury Deputy Secretary
Shortly after being confirmed, Treasury Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender received a letter Friday from America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle, who welcomed him to the position while also sharing several credit union priorities with the Treasury.
Nussle outlined how the credit union tax status delivers an approximate 1,300% return on its annual “cost,” generating $35.9 billion in member and non-member benefits over the past year. He added, “Credit unions’ place in financial services is critical for those left behind by banks.”
He also addressed the need for:
- Honoring the statutory intent of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, and safeguarding the Fund’s essential role;
- Harmonizing cybersecurity regulations across the financial sector to avoid inconsistency, duplication, or confusion. Treasury functions as an important coordinating body and could help broker a formal information sharing agreement between the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Agency and NCUA.
- Coordination between Treasury and other regulatory partners to identify fraud solutions that do not involve an expansion of liability under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act;
- A digital assets framework aimed at fostering competition that emphasizes prudential oversight, robust safety and soundness protections, and the application of consumer and investor protections to entities engaged in providing digital asset services or products;
- A financial marketplace that allows credit unions to grow and innovate through the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
The letter also reiterates America’s Credit Unions’ strong opposition to the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), instead noting the “best tool for addressing stablecoin risk is an appropriate regulatory framework developed with the input of relevant federal banking regulators, including the NCUA.”