Making a List: Everybody who’s anybody is offering up policy ideas for the incoming administration. The Financial Technology Association, which represents big fintech players like PayPal, Chime and Plaid, recently joined the party with a list of priorities for Donald Trump’s first 100 days. Suffice it to say, there’s a whole lot that the companies want to see happen quickly – running the gamut from payments system access to regulatory rollbacks. We posed a few questions about the road map to the group’s president, Penny Lee. Here are her lightly edited answers:
Capitol Account: Why should policy makers listen to FTA’s members?
Penny Lee: We know that eight out nine Americans use a fintech product on a daily basis, in all different kinds of ways – from getting their DoorDash delivered and it going through one of our rails, or sending a Venmo, or whatever the case might be…It’s an important sector to hear from just because we are shaping the digital financial future of the United States.
CA: What do you think of Trump’s regulatory appointments so far?
PL: It’s encouraging to see those leaders that have been nominated that have real life experience – that they’ve been in industry. They understand where some of the products are, how they’re being used, what is the potential [and] how…rules need to be put into place to safeguard consumers and small businesses. But also how we can think through what needs to be adjusted to allow for these companies to continue to innovate.
CA: This year your association sued the CFPB to overturn its Buy Now, Pay Later Rule. What’s at the top of your list of other Biden administration policies that need to be fixed or scrapped?
PL: There are proposed [CFPB] rules on earned wage access that also do not fit the actual product. [And] the larger participant rule on general-use digital payment companies. That is so broad in its scope, and it doesn’t take into consideration the various different models that you have of payment companies…[At the FDIC], the brokered deposit rule. We also think that was not based on data.
CA: On the proactive side, what are some items that you want to see the incoming administration take up?
PL: How do we continue to allow for products to innovate in a safe way? Whether that brings innovation offices back into the agencies [or] the creation of sandboxes – to engage with regulators in a way that allows these products…Then also think through what we need to do to set the U.S. up [for] faster payments, allowing non-bank access…into the national payment system.
CA: Another one of your goals is updating the rules for who can invest in private markets.
PL: Right now wealth is a sole determinant on whether or not you are eligible to make an investment. [We need to be] thinking through how we expand that access. We always made the joke that [Ben] Bernanke would not have been eligible at his Fed salary to be able to be an accredited investor. There’s probably no one more qualified.