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ETA unveils 2026 public policy priorities

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 — 11:47:12 (UTC)

WASHINGTON, DC — JANUARY 20, 2026 — The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the leading trade association of the payments industry, unveils its strategic public policy priorities for the year 2026.

The digital payments industry is the cornerstone of modern commerce, delivering secure, convenient solutions that support businesses of all sizes, powers the American economy, and ensures that consumers – including low-to-moderate income consumers – can seamlessly manage their financial transactions.

“Payments is driving innovation and increasing convenience, speed, and security for consumers. Payments also help drive the economy and create jobs. ETA’s policy priorities in DC, the states, and Canada reflect these goals and create a strong positive policy environment for payments, consumers, and businesses, especially small businesses,” said Jodie Kelley, CEO of ETA.

At ETA, we are committed to fostering a policy landscape that safeguards consumers and supports innovation. Our policy agenda for 2026 focuses on the following key areas:

Artificial Intelligence – The payments industry leads in adopting technologies, including traditional AI and agentic AI.

Traditional AI and machine-learning systems underpin core payments functions, including fraud analytics, AML/KYC processes, credit and risk modeling, and customer-service automation. Generative AI is accelerating these capabilities, enabling more efficient data processing, enhanced fraud detection, and more responsive customer service channels. Agentic AI are systems capable of initiating actions, coordinating multi-step tasks, or interacting with external platforms with bounded autonomy. They are an emerging class of tools with significant potential benefits for internal operations, such as customer service, dispute resolution, fraud investigation, and internal risk management, as well as customer-facing applications.

ETA encourages policymakers to:

• Maintain a consistent national framework and rely on existing federal laws and standards.
• Apply risk-based, technology-neutral oversight focused on outcomes and accountability.
• Promote coordination among federal agencies to avoid divergent AI standards across prudential regulators, CFPB, FTC, Treasury and sector-specific mandates.

Competition: Interchange and the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA)– ETA believes that competitive markets are the most effective mechanism for delivering innovation, efficiency, and consumer choice. Government-imposed price controls—whether through direct price setting or artificial caps—distort market signals, discourage innovation. ETA opposes government efforts, like the CCCA, to impose price controls or restrictions on private contracts.

ETA supports policy efforts that:

• Allow competitive forces to drive pricing, innovation, and value creation
• Ensure consumers retain access to diverse payment options and the benefits they provide
• Maintain an environment where investment in new payment technologies and security measures can flourish

Payments Fraud & Scams – The payments industry invests billions each year in advanced security tools that make digital payments among the safest ways to transact. As fraud and scams evolve, ETA encourages policymakers to launch a public awareness campaign, strengthen national coordination, and support public-private information sharing, among other efforts. ETA strongly supports the Taskforce for Recognizing and Averting Payment Scams Act (TRAPS Act), which would achieve these goals.

To further advance these goals, ETA supports policy efforts that:

• Elevate consumer education as a national priority.Improve information sharing between industry and government, including law enforcement and foreign governments.
• Promote adoption of advanced security technologies, ETA is also focused on Digital Assets, USMCA, Open Banking, and Privacy.

ETA remains dedicated to guiding the payments technology industry toward a future where innovation, security, and inclusion converge, benefiting all stakeholders in the digital economy. For more details, please visit here.

About The Electronic Transactions Association

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is the world’s leading advocacy and trade association for the payments industry. Our members span the breadth of significant payments and fintech companies in the U.S. and around the world. ETA members make commerce possible by processing approximately $57 trillion annually in purchases and P2P payments worldwide and deploying payments innovation to merchants and consumers.

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Source: Company press release.

Categories: Announcement | Government