Bank and Credit Union Groups Join Forces to Challenge New Illinois Law Restricting Interchange Fees

COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

Plaintiffs Illinois Bankers Association (“IBA”), American Bankers Association (“ABA”), America’s Credit Unions (“ACU”), and Illinois Credit Union League (“ICUL”), by and through their attorneys, allege as follows:

INTRODUCTION

1. On June 7, 2024, the State of Illinois enacted the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, H.B. 4951, Section 150 (“IFPA” or the “Act”). This law, which is scheduled to become effective on July 1, 2025, purports to ban banks, payment card networks, and other entities involved in processing debit or credit card transactions from charging or receiving “interchange fees” in Illinois on the portion of a transaction attributable to taxes or gratuities (the “Interchange Fee Prohibition”). The Act also prohibits banks and others involved in an electronic payment transaction (except the merchant) from transferring or using data from that transaction except to facilitate or process the transaction, or as required by law (the “Data Usage Limitation”). If allowed to become effective, the IFPA would upend the intricate and carefully

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calibrated global systems for debit and credit card purchases. Plaintiffs’ members include financial institutions from all 50 states, of all shapes and sizes, from small Illinois credit unions to large national banks and payment card networks. The IFPA would massively disrupt the operations of all of them.

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