The House voted Thursday 283-133 in favor of the CUNA-backed Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act (H.R. 4545). The bill was introduced by Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.), who cited CUNA’s examination survey when discussing the bill during a Committee markup in December.
“We strongly support this legislation as a strong step in the right direction to facilitate examination transparency and consistency for credit unions and other financial institutions,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “The examination process is among the challenges credit unions face in a post-financial crisis world, and it’s essential regulators conduct their exams in a fair manner.”
H.R. 4545 would:
- Require federal financial regulators to provide a final examination report to a financial institution no later than 60 days after the examination;
- Establish an Office of Independent Examination Review at the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council; and
- Give financial institutions the right to obtain an independent review of a material supervisory determination contained in a final report of examination.
A Senate version of the bill, S. 2237, was introduced by Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) in December, a week after H.R. 4545 passed the House Financial Services Committee.