Payments Post is back! After a hiatus at the end of 2024, we’re back with another dispatch on the conversations happening on the Payments News newsroom floor: Slack. Much has happened since then to get us talking: Capital One received (one) greenlight on its Discover acquisition, a whole slew of payment system volumes were released, and Visa and X (yes, that one) announced a surprisingly deep partnership. We also entered a new administration here in the US. After we declared 2024 the year of the regulator, 2025 looks to be quite different.
We’ve been thinking about the tension that’s emerged in the regulatory space as a result of the change in government, especially since the CFPB has been particularly active in the months leading up to Trump’s second inauguration. Let’s get into our (not legal advice!) thoughts on what we see playing out in Washington, and what it might mean for the payments industry.
We should start by saying that the CFPB has been controversial even before the current moment. The Bureau has attracted frequent criticism from industry participants and lawmakers alike. And more serious trouble loomed for the organization after the end of “Chevron deference” heralded by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which exposes agencies’ interpretation of statutes to much more open challenges in court.
That said, the picture for the Bureau certainly seems more bleak against the backdrop of GOP leadership in Washington. Elon Musk wants to “delete” the Bureau. Ted Cruz wants it defunded. But, at least at the time of writing, Rohit Chopra remains at the helm and, if the past is any guide, we can expect much more. As Klaros Group’s Konrad Alt pointed out on LinkedIn, the CFPB has historically been more active in GOP administrations.
Chopra is presiding over what continues to be a remarkably ambitious push to, in the Bureau’s own words, ensure consumers “are treated fairly by banks, lenders and other financial institutions.” Not all of the Bureau’s efforts impact the payments space, but many do. Since our hiatus since late October, the Bureau has been busy. The Bureau recently proposed including digital currencies in EFTA protections. In December, the CFPB sued JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America over fraud on the Zelle network, alleging that financial institutions have done too little to control an ecosystem of fraud that takes advantage of Zelle users. Also in January, CFPB fined Block over allegations that it similarly failed to control fraud on Cash App. Just before the new year, the Bureau sued Walmart and a partner company for “illegally opening accounts” on behalf of delivery drivers and “harvesting” junk fees from them. Against the backdrop of Musk and Cruz’s statements about the future of the agency, conflict feels palpable.
It’s worth noting that conflict over the future of consumer payments regulation is not confined to the CFPB. For example, we’ve been observing the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act’s congressional holding pattern since the bill was proposed by (famous to payments geeks) Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall in (R-KS) way back in 2023. If passed, the law would require the nation’s largest Visa and Mastercard credit card issuers to provide merchants with an alternate routing path, with the goal of reducing costs for merchants and consumers. We’re not convinced that savings would necessarily follow, but the bill speaks to Americans’ concerns about persistent inflation and the effect payment technology has on consumer goods.
None of this gives us real insight into what consumer protection will look like in an administration promising lighter regulation of business. For now, we go back to dissecting the latest volume figures from RTP, FedNow, and the ACH network. Have you seen those Same Day ACH stats? But we’ll have The Hill open on our other screen, waiting for news from the capital.
