WASHINGTON – Payments are now political.
During the "Assessing the Payments Landscape" breakout session at CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference, a panel of experts all agreed that now is the right time to educate Congress about the volatile regulatory payments world facing the credit union industry.
"There is very little banking and financial experience up on the Hill," said Pace Bradshaw, deputy head of U.S. government relations for Visa. "Following the elections in November, there's been a lot of optimism to address a number of regulatory challenges," he said.
Jason Kratovill, vice president for government affairs for payment with the Financial Services Roundtable bluntly said, "We are now in a brave new world that we don't know how to navigate."
The members of the panel all agreed that it's important to repeal the Durbin amendment of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Durbin amendment required the Federal Reserve to limit fees charged to retailers for debit card processing
"The amendment imposes routing requirements on financial institutions and we now see the negative impact it's having on credit unions," said Lance Noggle, senior director of advocacy and council at CUNA.
Glen Sarvady, managing principal with 154 Advisors, added, "I'd be very hard pressed to show that any of the savings from the Durbin amendment flowed through to consumers."
On the advocacy side, Kratovill advised credit union leaders to take advantage of this new environment in Washington, D.C. as congressional members are hearing a lot from angry constituents – and lawmakers are listening.
"The interchange fight is an example of the worst things for Congress," said Kratovill. "They are having to choose between you and local retailers. You can tell Congress 'Hey, we didn't pick this fight.'"
Sarvady said, "Payments isn't a partisan thing." And Kratovill added to that comment, "But payments are sexy and there's a high level of interest in Congress."
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
