ETA Statement Regarding the House Financial Services Committee Hearing on Online Marketplace Lending

Statement by Jason Oxman, CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the global trade association representing the payments technology world, regarding the House Financial Services Committee Hearing entitled “Examining the Opportunities and Challenges with Financial Technology (“FinTech”): The Development of Online Marketplace Lending.” 

“ETA applauds the House Financial Services Committee for their leadership on this issue which is critical to expanding access to credit to our nation’s small business owners. We are proud to have ETA member company CAN Capital testify on behalf of the industry at this hearing. Access to credit is the lifeblood of small businesses and a major determinant of their success or failure. Small businesses drive the economic growth of our nation, employing about half of private sector workers and generating more than $6 trillion in annual revenue.  Online small business lenders help small businesses grow, purchase equipment, hire employees, and strengthen our economy.

There are important and well established distinctions between small business and consumer loan programs and we urge policy makers to resist calls to regulate these products similarly.  We believe that doing so could dramatically impact sponsors of small business lending programs and adversely affect small businesses’ access to much needed capital.

As the trade association of the payments industry, whose membership includes leading companies in the online small business lending space, ETA looks forward to assisting the Committee in its efforts to ensure that merchants continue to benefit from this convenient, cost effective, and readily-available resource.”

About ETA

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is the global trade association representing more than 500 payments and technology companies. ETA members make commerce possible by processing more than $5 trillion in purchases in the U.S. and deploying payments innovations to merchants and consumers.