Dive Brief:

• Members of Congress have added their voices to the chorus of trade groups concerned about a plan by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to supervise big tech companies’ payment and digital wallet services.
• A group of 20 Republican Congress members, including House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry, submitted a letter posted on the CFPB’s website Friday. It was followed by a separate letter signed by seven Democrats and posted Monday, the deadline for comments on the proposed rule.
• “Given the CFPB’s track record of overreach, we strongly urge the Bureau to refrain from exceeding its authority and instead, commit to clarifying and narrowing the scope of this rule,” the Republican lawmakers said in their letter. The Democratic lawmakers asked the bureau to clarify what kinds of payments products would be regulated, along with the risks those products pose to consumers.

Dive Insight:

The CFPB proposed a rule last November that would extend its oversight to Google, Apple and at least 15 other companies that provide digital wallets and digital payment services.

At the time, the agency estimated that non-banks were behind about 88% of the U.S. general-use, non-bank digital consumer payments, according to details of the proposed rule.

Trade groups, including Electronic Transactions Association, the Financial Technology Association and the Crypto Council for Innovation, submitted comments pushing back on the CFPB’s plan, noting that the agency didn’t release a list of the 17 companies that would be covered by the proposal.

And as the deadline neared, more trade groups raised concerns. The majority of the 60 comments on the proposed rule were submitted in the week leading up to Monday’s deadline.

The CFPB did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether or not it would provide additional information on the proposed rule.