Retailers Welcome Payments Competition Legislation

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) Executive Vice President, Government Affairs Austen Jensen issued the following statement in response to bipartisan legislation introduced today by Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Marshall (R-KS) to help inject competition into the payments market.

“Leading retailers strongly support the introduction of the Credit Card Competition Act of 2022 to bring more competition and transparency to the credit card market. For far too long Visa and MasterCard, along with the largest Wall Street banks have been fleecing American consumers and main street businesses with interchange fees,” said Austen Jensen, RILA executive vice president of government affairs. “This was perfectly clear earlier this year when Visa and MasterCard chose profits over American families when they raised interchange rates during the highest inflation in over forty years.”
 
“In 2021, U.S. retailers paid an astounding $138 billion to accept electronic payments, a significant increase from 2015 when merchants paid $83 billion, and this past year’s number is more than double what the retail community paid in 2011, $64 billion. This current trajectory is simply unsustainable and reflects a broken market.”
 
“RILA believes competition is the hallmark of America’s retail industry. It drives innovation and brings consumers lower prices and new products and services. However, the absence of competition in the payments ecosystem has resulted in the U.S. being one of the most expensive countries in the world to accept credit cards. This legislation will help inject competition into the payments market and RILA applauds the bipartisan efforts by Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Marshall (R-KS) for their leadership in this arena."

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RILA is the US trade association for leading retailers. We convene decision-makers, advocate for the industry, and promote operational excellence and innovation. Our aim is to elevate a dynamic industry by transforming the environment in which retailers operate.

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.

Tags

• Payments
• Competition
• Public Policy
• Finance
• Supporting Free Markets and Fostering Innovation