expand their fields of membership and business lending capacity. Te House bill, which we don’t expect to advance in the Senate, was included as part of a broader package of financial inclusion measures, despite the fact that the bill contained no language to ensure that these expanded powers would be used by credit unions to serve underserved communities.


If credit unions were serious about promoting financial inclusion, they should welcome the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to serving low- to moderate-income communities by meeting the same Community Reinvestment Act requirements banks must meet. But it’s become clear that credit unions aren’t interested in that mission


— in fact, recent data has shown a general pattern of credit unions opening more branches on net in upper- and middle-income census tracts and closing more branches on net in low- to moderate-income census tracts.


It’s wrong for credit unions to try and shoehorn self- serving pieces of legislation through Congress under the


guise of promoting financial inclusion — just as it’s wrong for them to exploit their tax advantaged status to subsidize acquisitions of taxpaying banks, pay for stadium naming rights or private jets, or open multi- million dollar headquarters.


It’s encouraging that states are starting to scrutinize the credit union industry more closely. Now Congress must do the same.


Email Rob Nichols at rnichols@ aba.com.


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