ETA Advances Industry Initiatives Over Government Overreach In Congressional Testimony

July 17, 2014 – Washington, D.C. – The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the global trade association representing the payments technology world, today called on Congress to curtail the heavy handed federal law enforcement initiative Operation Choke Point, which holds payments companies responsible for merchant fraud. In testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Scott Talbott, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs of ETA, continued ETA’s call to rein in Choke Point which unfairly targets the payments industry despite proactive voluntary industry self-regulation to detect and eliminate fraud.

“Although ETA strongly supports increased law enforcement aimed at preventing mass frauds, it has serious concerns about the Operation Choke Point approach”, Talbott stated.  “In ETA’s view, Operation Choke Point employs the wrong legal tools, is unnecessarily confrontational, and creates serious risks to law abiding processors and merchants without producing any benefits to consumers.”

During his testimony, Talbott cited two recent economic studies released by ETA that found that Operation Choke Point is unlikely to achieve the intended result of denying access to the financial system to wrongdoers, and would impose significant costs on the overall economy. By targeting payments companies, federal law enforcement will drive up processing fees resulting in higher costs for both merchants and consumers.

Talbott stressed ETA’s support of the vigorous enforcement of existing laws and regulations and outlined current industry efforts to detect and eliminate fraud.  With the benefit of decades of experience, payment companies have developed effective due diligence programs to prevent unlawful merchants from accessing payment systems. Talbott pointed to ETA’s recently released Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring as evidence of the industry’s commitment to preventing fraud. The Guidelines provide ETA Members the latest and most effective strategies for underwriting and mitigating fraud and risk.

To access a copy of the testimony, click here.

For media inquiries, contact Meghan Cieslak at 202-677-7406 or [email protected].

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 $4.5 trillion in purchases in the U.S. and deploying payments innovations to merchants and consumers.