WASHINGTON — In real estate, it's all about location, location, location.But as credit unions and other financial service providers awaited a draft of the Senate regulatory restructuring, a key negotiator of the bill said when it comes to a new consumer agency, location is less important than teeth.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said last Thursday that members of his party don't want a final bill in which consumer protection would trump safety and soundness concerns and that he and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) had reached agreement on placing the new consumer regulator inside the Federal Reserve. Dodd was planning to unveil legislation on his own, without Republican co-sponsors on Monday March 15.

Corker said the compromise involved broad rulemaking authority for the new regulator, but the enforcement would be done by the prudential regulator. If the consumer regulator has concerns about a financial institution's practices, they could send a representative to the examination being conducted by the safety and soundness regulator, such as the NCUA.