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BankThink: Common Bond Is Heading in the Direction of Being Meaningless "Credit News 24"

In a BankThink opinion piece appearing in the July 10 American Banker, Aaron Klein, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and policy director at the Center on Regulation and Markets, argues that credit union field of membership restrictions have been watered down and is headed towards being meaningless.

For example, he notes that some credit unions are advertising "great rates for everyone."

But he believes that this would have profound consequences for the credit union industry and such radical changes should be openly debated -- not done through legal loopholes and regulatory arbitrage.

He pointed out that National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Chairman McWatters is a cheerleader for the eradication of common bond, as he recently advocated that Congress should expand the definition of common bond to include web-based communities as a basis of a charter. Klein does acknowledge that McWatters raised valid questions about geographic boundaries in a cyber world.

Klein wrote: "Expanding the definition of common bond to meaningless levels ... appears to be a direction the industry and its regulator is heading."

Klein believes that the public and policymakers need to stop and think about these changes.

Read the BankThink piece.
Title : BankThink: Common Bond Is Heading in the Direction of Being Meaningless "Credit News 24"
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