Hope for Bipartisanship in Financial Services?

In a divided Congress, one area that might lend itself to bipartisan is financial services, Congressman French Hill (R-AR) said in a speech at the Innovative Payments Association’s Power of prepaid Conference in Washington DC on Tuesday.

He said that in the House Financial Services Committee there is consensus between Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (R-NC) that fintech should be a priority for the Committee. He recommended that the attendees read the Department of Treasury’s Fintech report, which was released last you. You can find a summary and a link to the full report here.

Mr. Hill said that as incumbents and fintechs reshape the payments landscape, Congress needs to focus on a number of issues including

• Data aggregation and consumer use of third-party apps;
• Data privacy and breach notification;
• Developing a faster payments system.

The United States needs to develop a solution for real time settlement in order to remain competitive in financial services, he said.

Mr. Hill said that Congress plans to invite the federal regulatory agencies to the hill to learn about their approaches. He suggested there is a need to streamline compliance, and he invited the industry to give feedback to Congress.

All of this work needs to aim towards a singular end, he said.

“The ultimate beneficiary of this should be the American consumer,” Mr. Hill said.