CFPB, DATA SAFETY, NET NEUTRALITY SLATED.

Arlington, VA -- The following information was released by the National Association of Federal Credit Unions:

Bills supported by NAFCU to make revisions to the structure and authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are slated for mark-up Wednesday by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.

Three bills are set to be addressed in Wednesday's mark-up. H.R. 1121 would replace the CFPB director position with a five-member, bipartisan commission. H.R. 1315 would allow the Financial Stability Oversight Council to veto CFPB rules affecting financial institution safety and soundness on a simple-majority vote. A third bill, yet to be numbered at press time, would postpone the transfer of regulatory authority to the CFPB until a director is confirmed.

NAFCU testified in favor of all three proposals in a hearing last month before the subcommittee. It is continuing to press also for an increase to $50 billion in the asset-size threshold for institutions subject to direct CFPB examination and enforcement authority. Currently, that threshold is set at $10 billion, not indexed for inflation.

In other activities this week:

Today, the Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on nominations to fill posts at Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisers. The House Financial Services capital markets subcommittee will also mark up a number of bills that would, among other things, repeal a compensation reporting requirement under the Dodd-Frank Act for securities dealers.

On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's commerce, trade and consumer protection subcommittee will hold a hearing on threats to the safety of consumer data. (NAFCU is among those concerned about the impact on data security of the debit interchange fee-cap rule. See this recent American Banker story; login required.)

On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on intellectual property, competition and the Internet holds a hearing Thursday on "net neutrality." The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Regarding net neutrality, the House last month approved H. J. Res. 37, which would rescind a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring fairness in the provision of Internet access. The measure is unlikely to win Senate passage.

NAFCU supports of the concept of net neutrality. The FCC rule, approved in December, is aimed at preventing Internet access providers from blocking access to or making it more difficult to get certain sites, or limiting bandwidth available to specific classes of users.