CrossState Members Bring Credit Union Priorities to Washington
Credit union leaders wrapped up two days of grassroots advocacy in Washington, D.C., with CrossState’s Hike the Hill event, bringing the credit union perspective directly to a dozen policymakers and regulators. The event followed America’s Credit Unions’ Congressional Caucus and included briefings on regulatory priorities, cybersecurity, financial crimes, and legislative developments before participants headed to meetings on Capitol Hill.
During the working lunch, credit union leaders from New Jersey and Pennsylvania joined colleagues from the New York Credit Union Association for a discussion with newly appointed NCUA Chairman John Crews, providing an opportunity to hear more about his priorities for the agency. Crews has identified regulatory efficiency, responsible innovation, financial stability, and access to affordable financial services among his areas of focus.
We also heard from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA’s) Cybersecurity Advisor, Rahul Mittal, talked about the agency’s priorities, best practices for risk management, incident response, and cybersecurity measures, and how it offers free onsite evaluation of cyber-readiness of an organization’s systems and table-top exercises.
In addition, the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN’s) Senior Strategic Engagement Advisor, Mark Fahmy, shared the agency’s priorities to combat financial crimes, such as money laundering, organized crime groups, and fraud against government. He highlighted that payments and check fraud are the most prevalent crimes and reinforced the agency’s commitment to work with credit unions and associations through its Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG) and FinCEN Exchange.
At meetings on the Hill, Belco Community Credit Union and Cross Valley Federal Credit Union met with U.S. Rep. Scott Perry for a conversation centered on fraud and financial reporting, including the TRAPS Act, Financial Reporting Threshold Modernization Act, and SCAM Act. The TRAPS Act would establish a Treasury-led task force focused on payment scams, while the SCAM Act addresses fraudulent online advertising; the Financial Reporting Threshold Modernization Act would update certain transaction-reporting thresholds. Our credit unions and CrossState staff also met with Rep. Mejia and Rep. Menendez as well as Sen. John Fetterman’s office to discuss Senate fraud legislation.
The visit concluded with CrossState representatives attending Sen. Dave McCormick’s Keystone Coffee, a regular opportunity for Pennsylvanians visiting Washington to hear from the senator and learn more about his priorities. McCormick serves on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.
Thank you to all of the credit union leaders who took the time to participate and share their experiences! CrossState will continue creating opportunities for members to engage directly with policymakers, including additional in-district meetings in the weeks ahead.