The National Credit Union Administration is a “captured regulatory agency,” as evidenced by the credit union industry’s attempt to have NCUA “end run” limits on business loans imposed by Congress, the Washington Times said in a Sunday editorial.
NCUA “now proposes to expand the ability of credit unions to make risky large loans by raising limits imposed by Congress to prevent abuse of their special status,” the newspaper said. “The most aggressive credit unions want to compete with community banks, whose practices are not now within the purview of the regulators.”
The paper’s editorial board noted that Congress imposed limits on member business lending “to help the credit unions keep in mind that they were designed to serve customers … of modest means” with meaningful common bonds and that the tax exemption credit unions enjoy is attributed to that historic role that credit unions are now seeking to avoid.
