Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, Kyle Hauptman, testified Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee, during which he spoke about the operations, programs, and initiatives of the organization. He spoke alongside representatives of the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
During his opening remarks, Hauptman stated that the NCUA must “meet its statutory obligations with awareness that overregulation can stifle innovation and growth in a way that could threaten the viability of the credit union system.” He reiterated his and the NCUA’s current desire to move away from “regulation-by-enforcement”, instead focusing on a system of “write rule, then enforce.” Hauptman continued by saying that the NCUA is working towards removing any regulations that are “obsolete, overly prescriptive, or unduly burdensome.”
Following the opening statements from those testifying, members of the House Committee were allowed to make statements and ask questions of the individuals. The first question for Hauptman came from Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), who asked when (not if) the NCUA would allow volunteer board members to be reimbursed for childcare costs incurred while attending board meetings. The issue was raised in July 2024 with no progress. Hauptman agreed that it’s an uncontroversial issue, and Sherman hoped that the NCUA move on it in weeks, not years.
The next question posed to Hauptman came from Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) who asked about the cost of compliance for preparing CTRs and SARs as part of the Bank Secrecy Act, and whether there’s a case for increasing form thresholds and indexing it to inflation. Hauptman responded by saying that complying with BSA and AML is the least enjoyed part of running a small institution, and is among the first reasons for why small institutions merge in with others. He refrained from commenting specifically on the thresholds, however, instead reiterating the burden of compliance.
The third question posed was asked of all individuals by Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH) regarding the topic of check fraud, a major concern for American families. Mrs. Beatty asked for their thoughts on the proposed Protecting Consumers from Payment Scams Act, which is aimed at better protecting consumers who are defrauded when they make payments by sharing liability with the outgoing and incoming financial institutions involved. In his answer, Hauptman mentioned the additional security measures of public blockchain, before discussing the challenge of check fraud and the need to educate.
As the committee hearing continued, Hauptman fielded questions on cryptocurrency, climate change, the independent status of the NCUA, among others. The full hearing can be watched online.
