Why It Matters

Electronic Payments Coalition Inc. filed a registration amendment with Ballentine Strategies on July 29, adding James Ballentine Jr., the firm's founder and chief executive, as its lobbyist on banking issues. That filing did not specify issues beyond the banking code, and no legislation was listed. That same day, Ballentine Strategies filed a termination amendment closing out a separate registration on Credit Card Competition Act issues that had lapsed since April 1, 2025.

By The Numbers

Electronic Payments Coalition Inc. fielded at least ten lobbying entities in quarter two of 2026, with combined disclosed income across those filings topping $3,410,000. That includes Miller Strategies LLC, which reported $110,000 in its quarter two of 2026 filing, with a team that includes Jeff Miller, Ashley Gunn, Steve Ruppel, Jonny Hiler, and Jessica Mandel working the Credit Card Competition Act. The organization's in-house lobbying team lobbied against reintroduction of the Credit Card Competition Act (S. 1838) in the 119th Congress.

Broader Context

Electronic Payments Coalition Inc. spread its quarter two of 2026 lobbying work across a wide bench of firms beyond Miller Strategies and Ballentine Strategies, including CGCN Group LLC, Crossroads Strategies LLC, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, Ballard Partners LLC, and Resolution Public Affairs LLC, alongside solo registrant Geoffrey P. Gray. Filings across that roster targeted debit and credit card interchange price controls, the Durbin-Marshall routing mandate, credit card interest rate caps, and provisions of PL 119-4, the FY 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, affecting interchange fees. The group also terminated a $20,000 quarter two engagement with Tassey & Associates effective June 30, even as Jeff Tassey's solo registration had carried a lengthy list of issues, including antitrust litigation over interchange, Buy Now Pay Later programs, and Federal Reserve Regulation II, in the prior quarter.

Bottom Line

Ballentine Strategies' mandate remains a blank slate on paper, but its arrival alongside the termination of an older registration suggests Electronic Payments Coalition Inc. is refreshing, not just expanding, its Capitol Hill presence. With interchange fee regulation and the Credit Card Competition Act still working through Congress, the payments industry group is keeping a wide bench of firms in play as quarter three of 2026 begins.

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