I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3928 

To require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve to satisfy certain 

requirements before providing any new payment service, or substantially 

changing or expanding any existing payment service, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2019 

Mr. RIGGLEMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

to satisfy certain requirements before providing any new 

payment service, or substantially changing or expanding 

any existing payment service, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Reserve Ac5 countability and Justification Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PAYMENT SERVICES. 

7 Section 11A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 

8 248a) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(f) PAYMENT SERVICE.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board may not provide 

3 any new payment service, or substantially change or 

4 expand any existing payment service unless the 

5 Board determines that— 

6 ‘‘(A) any costs associated with such service 

7 will be recovered; 

8 ‘‘(B) providing such service will yield a 

9 clear public benefit, such as promoting the in10 tegrity of the payments system, improving the 

11 effectiveness of financial markets, reducing the 

12 risk associated with payments and securities13 transfer services, or improving the efficiency of 

14 the payments system; 

15 ‘‘(C) no other providers can be expected to 

16 provide such service with reasonable effective17 ness, scope, and equity; and 

18 ‘‘(D) other providers are able to compete 

19 with the Federal Reserve Banks in offering 

20 such service, based on a competitive impact 

21 study. 

22 ‘‘(2) REASONABLE EFFECTIVENESS, SCOPE, 

23 AND EQUITY.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 

25 paragraph 1(A), the Board shall determine that 


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1 other providers can be expected to provide such 

2 service with reasonable effectiveness, scope, and 

3 equity if the Board has found that other pro4 viders— 

5 ‘‘(i) offer a service that substantially 

6 performs the material functions of such 

7 service that the Board would provide and 

8 offer the service to member and non9 member depository institutions on non10 discriminatory terms, regardless of the size 

11 of the institution; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) are capable within a reasonable 

13 time of offering a service that substantially 

14 performs the material functions of such 

15 service that the Board would provide and 

16 of offering the service to member and non17 member depository institutions on non18 discriminatory terms, regardless of the size 

19 of the institution. 

20 ‘‘(B) CENTRAL BANK MONEY.—The ability 

21 of the Board to settle interbank obligations 

22 using balances at the central bank (also re23 ferred to as central bank money) shall not alone 

24 be sufficient to support a determination by the 

25 Board that other providers alone cannot be exVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Aug 03, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3928.IH H3928

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1 pected to provide such service with reasonable 

2 effectiveness, scope, and equity. 

3 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—The service offered by the 

4 Board known as the ‘Federal Funds Wire Service’ is 

5 not subject to the requirements of this subsection. 

6 ‘‘(4) FINAL RULE.—The Board shall publish in 

7 the Federal Register, in accordance with section 553 

8 of title 5 of the United States Code, a final rule that 

9 states any determination made pursuant to para10 graph (1) and explains the basis for such determina11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(5) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person adversely 

14 affected or aggrieved by a failure of the Board 

15 to properly make a determination under this 

16 subsection before providing a new payment 

17 service or substantially changing or expanding 

18 an existing payment service is entitled to judi19 cial review thereof. 

20 ‘‘(B) DEFERENCE.—A court may not give 

21 deference to the Board when conducting a re22 view under this paragraph.’’. 

Æ 


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