NAFCU shares concerns on bill providing NCUA with additional vendor authority

by NAFCU Newsroom

NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Greg Mesack Friday wrote to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee to share the Association’s opposition and concerns regarding S.4698, the Improving Cybersecurity of Credit Unions Act, which would grant the NCUA additional authority to examine credit union service organizations (CUSOs) and other third-party vendors.

Mesack noted that while NAFCU supports a strong NCUA, the agency should “stay focused on where their expertise lies – regulating credit unions.” Credit unions fund the NCUA budget, and implementing such a new authority would incur additional expenditures by the agency – which would be borne by credit unions and their 131 million members.

Of note, Mesack mentioned that the NCUA already has tools that grant them access to information about CUSO’s and third-party vendors. Mesack also suggested that the agency work with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council to gain information on vendors already vetted by federal regulators.

“If that option is not available for NCUA due to the decisions of other regulators, Congress should consider compelling the other regulators to share the information,” added Mesack.

 

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