Tenney calls for hearing on inequities between credit unions and banks

Ebrima Santos Sanneh

NEW YORK — New York Congresswoman Claudia Tenney Monday called for the House Ways and Means Committee — of which she is a member — to hold a hearing on the disparate regulation and tax burdens between banks and credit unions. 

"I think there does need to be [a] hearing," she said, in response to one of the American Bankers Association's top congressional liaisons' suggestion. "I think people need to see the disparity in taxes, the disparity in how you decide who's going to be a member of your credit union. I'm not against competition, but I do think we have to have fair competition."

The upstate New York member raised her concerns to a crowd at the American Bankers Association's Annual Convention in New York. She suggested that having a public discussion with experts before the Ways and Means Committee could help illustrate these disparities.

"I think that would be a great way to look at — as a Ways and Means Committee — to just kind of have witnesses come in and actually lay that out so members can see that and see that there is an unfairness and disparity there," Tenney said.

Tenney, who has a background as a business owner and bank attorney, represents New York's 24th District, a large and rural district in the Finger Lakes region. Her focus in Congress has been on what she has called "tailored" regulatory relief for businesses and supporting pro-business tax cuts. Tenney has voiced concerns about government intervention in private banking practices after the SBA encouraged banks to opt into direct forgiveness of PPP loans in order to avoid lender audits. 

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Tenney also supported legislation focused on community banking relief, allowing banks with less than $3 billion in assets to be eligible for an 18-month examination cycle, rather than 12 months.

The discrepancies between the tax and regulatory treatment of banks and credit unions has been a perennial gripe of the banking industry for years. The latter are typically established as not-for-profit, member-owned cooperatives focused on providing affordable financial services, while banks are more traditionally incorporated for-profit companies. But many banks have pointed out that the erosion of field of membership rules and credit unions' increasing marketing presence reduce the distinctions between banks and credit unions that theoretically justify their preferential tax and regulatory treatment.