Legislative Update with Jay Kruse

Cybersecurity is about fostering innovation while safeguarding your members’ financial information; our related advocacy priorities you should be following. 

Good morning! As Jeff pointed out earlier this week, October is an exciting month for credit unions. International Credit Union Day is only a couple weeks away, taking place on October 20th, not to mention the month is jam-packed full of Pints & Politics and other political events taking place across North and South Dakota. Plus, the general election is only five weeks away!

October is also Cyber Security Awareness month, so I wanted to remind everyone of our legislative priorities related to cyber security.

Cyber Security is really about fostering digital innovation while safeguarding assets and your credit union members’ financial information.

Emerging FINTECH startups and cryptocurrency lenders have created a misleading and underregulated marketplace for consumers. Together with a confusing patchwork of data privacy laws and an uncertain digital payments environment, everyday people must navigate a landscape full of data traps and potential abuse.

DATA SECURITY
Congress must create a preemptive data security framework that protects consumers by holding all data warehousers to the same strong standards as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).

INTERCHANGE
Congress must not allow profit-minded payments processors to jeopardize consumers’ financial privacy and access to inexpensive unsecured credit.

Preserving payments and access to credit Interchange fees make it possible for credit unions to offer consumers low-cost access to credit. This fraction of a penny per dollar transacted ensures that consumers are protected from bad actors exploiting merchants’ lax data and card security measures.

To preserve the integrity of the well-functioning debit and credit card system we oppose S.4674

CRYPTOCURRENCY
Congress must allow credit unions to provide safe, regulated cryptocurrency services to members, while creating regulatory oversight to ensure that cryptocurrency and digital assets aren’t used to avoid consumer protections built into most financial products and services.

FINTECHS
Congress must hold fintech companies to the same rigorous oversight as credit unions for products and services that they offer, preventing the misuse of state and federal bank charters to avoid regulation.

Our overall ask to Congress is simple: Congress must protect consumers’ hard-earned assets by holding cryptocurrency providers, Fintech Companies, and payments processors to the same rigorous standards as credit unions.
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As always, don’t hesitate to contact me with any advocacy questions or concerns. 

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