The Credit Card Competition Act of 2026 requires the Federal Reserve Board to prescribe regulations aimed at increasing network competition in credit card transactions. Specifically, it prohibits large credit card issuers, defined as those with over $100 billion in assets, and payment card networks from restricting the number of networks on which an electronic credit transaction may be processed. This includes preventing cards from being limited to a single network, or to affiliated networks, or to the two largest market share networks under certain conditions. Furthermore, the bill mandates regulations to prevent card issuers and networks from inhibiting a merchant's ability to route transactions over any available payment card network. It also prohibits imposing penalties on merchants for choosing a specific network or for failing to meet volume targets for a particular network. The Federal Reserve Board, in consultation with the Treasury Secretary, must also establish and regularly update a public list of payment card networks that pose a national security risk or are owned by foreign state entities, which would be excluded from routing options. These regulations will not apply to credit cards issued under a 3-party payment system model , where the issuer is also the network or under common ownership. The regulations prescribed by the Board are slated to take effect 180 days after their finalization. This legislation aims to foster a more competitive environment for credit card processing by ensuring multiple network options and merchant routing flexibility.