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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

FTC comments on CFPB’s big tech payments inquiry

Federal Issues FTC CFPB Payments Artificial Intelligence Discrimination

Federal Issues

On December 21, FTC Chair Lina M. Khan submitted a comment in response to the CFPB's Notice and Request for Comment inquiring about the CFPB’s October orders issued to six large U.S. technology companies seeking information and data on their payment system business practices. (Covered by InfoBytes here.) In her comment, Khan noted her three areas of concern that she hopes can help to inform the CFPB’s inquiry, including that big tech companies’ (i) “participation in payments and financial services could enable them to entrench and extend their market positions and privileged access to data and AI techniques in potentially anticompetitive and exploitative ways”; (ii) “use of algorithmic decision-making in financial services amplifies concerns of discrimination, bias, and opacity”; and (iii) “increasingly commingled roles as payment and authentication providers could concentrate risk and create single points of failure.” Khan noted that “[t]he potential risks created by Big Tech’s expansion into payments and financial services are notable and demand close scrutiny,” and stated that she will be monitoring “this inquiry and the findings it produces to help inform the FTC’s work.”