WEEK AHEAD: Faster payments thoughts, insights from the Fed, ‘2nd chances’ on the agenda

Faster payments and speeches from Federal Reserve Board governors highlight the week ahead – along with some credit union comments due for “second chances.”

Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairmen Richard H. Clarida and Randal Quarles speak on successive days about diverse topics: the Fed’s monetary policy review (Thursday for Clarida), and “Macroprudential Regulation” (Friday for Quarles).

Clarida will address the Fed’s current review of its monetary policy strategy, tools, and communication practices during remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; the event gets underway at 11:45 a.m. ET (and will be live-streamed via the web).

Quarles shares his views on macroprudential regulation in a speech at the Georgetown University Law Center’s Law and Macroeconomics Conference, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. His remarks are scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. ET (and also will be live-streamed).

Meanwhile, both the Senate Banking and the House Financial Services Committees will focus on real-time and faster payments during successive hearings.

The Financial Services Committee’s task force on financial technology holds its hearing Thursday on “The Future of Real-Time Payments” (which gets underway at 2 p.m. ET in Rayburn House Office Building room 2128). No witness list has yet been posted.

Witnesses have been set for a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday about “Facilitating Faster Payments in the U.S.” The witness list for the hearing (at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 538) includes Esther L. George, president and chief executive officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Rounding out the week, comments are due Friday to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) on its interpretive ruling and policy statement (IRPS) regarding exceptions to employment restrictions under the Federal Credit Union Act. Board Chairman Rodney Hood has championed the proposal (which he calls the “2ndChance IRPS”) that would amend and expand the current de minimis exception to reduce the scope and number of offenses that prohibit individuals from participating in the affairs of a federally insured credit union. The proposal was issued in July.