Your institutions have provided a model for consistency in the financial services sector, which seems to change almost daily. Credit unions hold a little over two percent of American household assets, and this figure has changed only modestly the last 10 years. Your insurance fund has operated for seven consecutive years with an equity ratio above 1.25 percent, and your industry has survived economic downturns without any cost to the taxpayer. You have a lot to be proud of. Not the least of which is that you have asked nothing of Congress except to keep serving your customers, who, by the way, according to opinion polls, have as high a regard of your services as any private sector institutions in our society or for that matter, anywhere in the world.
Credit unions represent democracy at work in the market place.
They are an integral part of the American way of life. Now, as we all know, there is not complete harmony between and among the various parts of America's financial services sector. Of particular significance, the Supreme Court has under review a dispute between banks and credit unions, one in which banks contend credit union have taken advantage of tax and regulatory differentiations to expand beyond traditional markets. On the other hand, credit unions note that federal regulators have endorsed their actions and that their services are based on customer preference. As Chairman of the Banking Committee, I have consulted with more than half of the Members of the House of Representatives, and the overwhelming consensus has been not to consider acting until the court rules.