Presidential Perspectives: ETA is the Voice of FinTech

By Kevin Jones, ETA Board President, CEO, Celero Commerce

As I assume the presidency of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), I can already see that 2019 will be one of the most exciting years of my career. ETA as an organization has made meaningful progress in recent years, becoming more relevant and effective in its work advocating for the payments technology industry and its participants.

Currently, ETA supports more than 500 payments and technology companies worldwide. Our members process more than $6 trillion in purchases and deploy ever-evolving technology platforms, effectively enabling most commercial activity in the United States.

Through the efforts of CEO Jason Oxman, SVP of Government Affairs Scott Talbott, ETA VP of Industry Affairs Amy Zirkle, its staff in Washington, and the board of directors, our organization is the leading voice of FinTech. Our work is specifically committed to creating a fair, competitive, innovative, and solution-rich environment for our member companies as they grow in the United States and worldwide.

Being the voice of FinTech is no light task, and giving our industry a respected, articulate voice offers perhaps our biggest point of differentiation in a competitive information marketplace. Becoming a sustained voice of advocacy for the FinTech industry requires us to be everywhere at once, which, in turn requires us to work as a team like no other organization.

The team’s work has been extensive. In an often-slow-moving federal legislative environment, the ETA leadership team has accomplished a lot: advocating for enactment of the Tax and Jobs Act, testifying before two House subcommittees against Operation Choke Point, testifying twice before U.S. trade representative against tariffs that negatively impact payments companies and their merchants, and holding 10 events in Washington, including a fly-in and the Fintech Policy Forum.

On the regulatory front, we’ve filed comment letters with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. In addition, ETA leaders have served on the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force and More Secure Task Force.

At state level, ETA representatives have testified before the State Multi-State Tax Commission, as well as before state legislatures in Michigan, California, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey. Meanwhile, our team was busy advocating on various local issues in 28 states.

I’m particularly proud to see our great expansion of advocacy efforts on the international front, specifically with regard to payments issues in Canada. ETA recently announced its expansion into Canada as an advocate for public policy that encourages partnerships and grows payments in that market. In 2018, ETA held a fly-in in Ottawa and a policy day in Toronto to support those efforts.

In addition to all of our work on individual issues at state, federal, and global levels, we have built a groundbreaking bi-partisan payments caucus, the Congressional Payments Technology Caucus. The Caucus brings together representatives who understand how critical the FinTech industry is to the U.S. economy, both in terms of generating commerce and protecting companies and individuals with the most cutting-edge cybersecurity measures on the planet.  Members of the Caucus have consistently and actively listened to our perspectives and enabled us to impact the change we want to see in our industry.

Finally, ETA is a vital advocate on critical business matters on behalf of its members.  Working between and among all the core players in the industry, ETA has been a force to lead business change to advance innovation and security for payments technology.

At ETA, we stand poised to have our best year yet, and I know we will deliver.  As President, I am committed to leveraging the incredible expertise, work ethic, and team approach of the ETA for the continued betterment of the FinTech industry for its member companies, merchants, and customers worldwide.

Presidential Perspectives is a new editorial series featuring contributions on ETA, FinTech and the payments technology industry from ETA Board President Kevin Jones.