Retailers Fight to Keep Swipe Fee Reform
- By [ Austen Jensen ]
- Arlington, VA
- 05/04/2017
Today, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) responded to the House Financial Services Committee’s markup of the Financial CHOICE Act, legislation that would roll back many of the financial reforms passed in the wake of the financial meltdown in 2008. Retailers have vowed to fight any financial reform bill that repeals swipe fee reform, bipartisan legislation passed in 2010 that stopped large banks and card networks from charging merchants exorbitant fees on debit card transactions.
“While we believe in financial reforms that make sense for America’s community banks and local credit unions, the repeal of hard-fought debit swipe fee reform included in the CHOICE Act gives big banks and card networks a green light to raise costs on every business in America that accepts debit cards,” said Austen Jensen, Vice President of Government Affairs and Financial Services for RILA.
“Repealing swipe fee reform is a billion-dollar bailout for banks that are already generating record profits and passing out record bonuses. It’s a poison pill for any bipartisan effort to enact meaningful financial reform, splitting the business community and members of Congress alike. We urge the full House to strip this provision from the CHOICE Act and focus on a bill that protects both community banks and local businesses. Financial reform will be a bust for the average American if Congress fixates on giving big banks back their license to fleece.”
Retailers believe repealing swipe fee reform is bad for the economy and bad for America. Americans agree.
• 76 percent of all voters believe that big banks got a bailout while millions of Americans were left to suffer.• 63 percent of Trump voters (67 percent of all voters) believe that banks are taking advantage of retailers.
• 55 percent of all voters oppose swipe fees of any kind.
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RILA is the trade association of the world’s largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.