WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representatives from two of the nation’s leading credit union associations and the American Bankers Association expressed support for Senator King’s RELIEVE Act during testimony today in front of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Linda McFadden of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), Dennis Pierce of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), and Jeff Plagge of the American Bankers Association (ABA) all voiced support for the legislation at a hearing to examine the state of small insured depository institutions in America. The bill would relieve small financial institutions across the country, like credit unions and community banks, of excessive and ineffective regulations.

“As we heard today, small banks and credit unions across the country are being crushed by the weight of poorly-tailored regulations and they’re crying out for help from Congress,” Senator King said. “We can lend them a hand by passing the RELIEVE Act, which would immediately ease the regulatory burden these small institutions carry and allow them to do what they do best: help every day Americans to afford a home, buy a car, or finance an education.”

“The RELIEVE Act contains helpful provisions that ABA supports to ease regulatory burdens,” said Jeff Plagge on behalf of the ABA. “It would help small bank and thrift holding companies raise more capital by raising the threshold for the Federal Reserve’s Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement from $500 million to small bank and savings and loan holding companies with less than $1 billion in consolidated assets. Additionally, it would increase the availability of credit in rural communities by defining ‘rural’ more broadly for purposes of the qualified mortgage rules and increase the annual mortgage origination limit from 500 to 1,000 per year.”

“We applaud Senators King, Warner, Tester and Fischer for their leadership in introducing this legislation, a key element of which would provide important relief to credit unions with Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTAs),” Linda McFadden said on behalf NAFCU. “Maintaining parity between the coverage provided by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on all types of deposits and accounts is imperative and a longstanding goal of NAFCU member credit unions.”

“We encourage the Senate to consider legislation providing parity in insurance coverage for lawyer trust accounts and other similar trust accounts held at a federally insured credit union. Senators King (I-ME), Warner (D-VA), Tester (D-MT) and Fischer (R-NE) have introduced regulatory relief legislation that includes a provision to address this issue: S. 2698, the Regulatory Easement for Lending Institutions that Enable a Vibrant Economy Act (RELIEVE Act); and S. 2699, a standalone measure that would address this issue,” said Dennis Pierce on behalf of CUNA.

In advance of today’s hearing, Senators King and Fischer urged Chairman, Senator Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), and Ranking Member, Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), in a let­­­­­­ter to consider their bill. The legislation, which is also sponsored by Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), would help lift the regulatory burden by modernizing outdated regulations, making technical corrections to the Dodd-Frank Act, and providing parity for credit unions with regard to insurance coverage of lawyer trust accounts and other escrow accounts.

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