ETA Statement Regarding Passage of the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act

The Electronic Transactions Association, the global association for the payments technology industry, applauds the U.S. House of Representatives for the passage of H.R. 766, the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act. This bill effectively puts an end to the heavy handed federal law enforcement initiative Operation Choke Point (OCP), which holds payments companies responsible for merchant fraud. ETA has long held that OCP employs the wrong legal tools, is unnecessarily confrontational, and creates serious risks to law abiding processors and merchants without producing any benefits to consumers.

The payments industry has a proven record of proactive, voluntary industry self-regulation 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. Additionally, ETA provides members with effective tools to prevent fraud such as ETA’s Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring. The guidelines provide ETA members the latest and most effective strategies for underwriting and mitigating fraud and risk.

ETA thanks Representative Luetkemeyer, the sponsor of the bill, for his leadership on this issue.