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 pur-
poses. 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Reserve Ac-
countability and Justification Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PAYMENT SERVICES. 
Section 11A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 
248a) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(f) PAYMENT SERVICE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board may not provide 
any new payment service, or substantially change or 
expand any existing payment service unless the 
Board determines that— 
‘‘(A) any costs associated with such service 
will be recovered; 
‘‘(B) providing such service will yield a 
clear public benefit, such as promoting the in-
tegrity of the payments system, improving the 
effectiveness of financial markets, reducing the 
risk associated with payments and securities- 
transfer services, or improving the efficiency of 
the payments system; 
‘‘(C) no other providers can be expected to 
provide such service with reasonable effective-
ness, scope, and equity; and 
‘‘(D) other providers are able to compete 
with the Federal Reserve Banks in offering 
such service, based on a competitive impact 
study. 
‘‘(2) REASONABLE
EFFECTIVENESS, 
SCOPE, 
AND EQUITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 
paragraph 1(A), the Board shall determine that 
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other providers can be expected to provide such 
service with reasonable effectiveness, scope, and 
equity if the Board has found that other pro-
viders— 
‘‘(i) offer a service that substantially 
performs the material functions of such 
service that the Board would provide and 
offer the service to member and non-
member depository institutions on non-
discriminatory terms, regardless of the size 
of the institution; or 
‘‘(ii) are capable within a reasonable 
time of offering a service that substantially 
performs the material functions of such 
service that the Board would provide and 
of offering the service to member and non-
member depository institutions on non-
discriminatory terms, regardless of the size 
of the institution. 
‘‘(B) CENTRAL BANK MONEY.—The ability 
of the Board to settle interbank obligations 
using balances at the central bank (also re-
ferred to as central bank money) shall not alone 
be sufficient to support a determination by the 
Board that other providers alone cannot be ex-
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pected to provide such service with reasonable 
effectiveness, scope, and equity. 
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—The service offered by the 
Board known as the ‘Federal Funds Wire Service’ is 
not subject to the requirements of this subsection. 
‘‘(4) FINAL RULE.—The Board shall publish in 
the Federal Register, in accordance with section 553 
of title 5 of the United States Code, a final rule that 
states any determination made pursuant to para-
graph (1) and explains the basis for such determina-
tion. 
‘‘(5) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person adversely 
affected or aggrieved by a failure of the Board 
to properly make a determination under this 
subsection before providing a new payment 
service or substantially changing or expanding 
an existing payment service is entitled to judi-
cial review thereof. 
‘‘(B) DEFERENCE.—A court may not give 
deference to the Board when conducting a re-
view under this paragraph.’’. 
Æ 
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