Payments News Update – April 17, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: OCC Plans to Preempt Illinois Interchange Law
Payments Dive – April 16, 2026
The Trump administration is considering an executive order to preempt the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act that is set to take effect in July.
That’s according to a submission Tuesday from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is part of the Treasury Department, to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The notice was listed under executive orders under review. Such reviews can take up to 90 days.
The listing doesn’t include the exact language of the order, just a note that it’s been submitted and is at the “interim final rule” stage. The text of the order, presumably to be signed by Republican President Donald Trump, would be disclosed later. . . .
Visa, Mastercard Settle Merchant Claims
Payments Dive – April 16, 2026
Visa and Mastercard have settled the final interchange fee claims from a group of about five dozen merchants in recent weeks in an antitrust case that had been set for trial this month.
The last merchant settlement came this week as Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard resolved its damage claims against the networks in a New York case that dates to June 2013.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in the Southern District of New York formally closed the litigation on Wednesday, after Amtrak, Crate & Barrel, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nike and other merchants settled their claims over the past six weeks. Settlements in the New York case, which have come in several batches over the past decade, cover about 65 merchants total. . . .
‘Credit Card Chaos’? Financial Institutions Bet Big on Repeal of First-of-Its-Kind Illinois Law
CBS News – April 15, 2026
“Credit cards may not work for sales tax or tips starting July 1.” By now, you’ve heard that claim, but whether it’s true depends on who you ask.
The ads — funded by the Electronic Payments Coalition of banks, credit unions and card companies — argue that Illinois lawmakers must repeal the state’s first-in-the-nation Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, slated to take effect July 1. That law prohibits financial institutions from charging “swipe,” or interchange, fees on the tax and tip portions of consumer bills and bans them from making up the fees elsewhere.
If it’s not repealed? “Credit card chaos” may ensue, the ads warn. While the financial institutions are quick to cite a list of things that could hypothetically happen if the law isn’t repealed, it’s harder to pin down what’s being done and by who to comply with the law two years after it was signed. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Surcharges Are Suddenly Everywhere—And Grumpy Americans Are Paying Up
The Wall Street Journal – April 12, 2026 (subscription may be required)
An extra 3% for paying with a credit card. A 5% involuntary contribution to a restaurant’s employee wellness fund. $25 a month in addition to rent for trash collection.
Consumers already weary of rising inflation are now contending with a new crop of costs that are hidden in plain sight. New fees or surcharges are popping up everywhere as companies search for ways to recoup their own rising costs while blaming outside pressures.
In recent weeks, package-delivery companies and airlines have announced new or higher fees, citing increasing fuel prices. Economists expect more to follow unless oil prices rapidly fall. . . .
American Express to Back Purchases Made by Customers’ AI Agents
PYMNTS – April 14, 2026
American Express plans to extend its customer protection to registered artificial intelligence (AI) agent purchases.
In the future, with Amex Agent Purchase Protection, the company will protect eligible customers from charges related to AI agent error if the card member has authorized an AI agent to make a purchase and that agent sends American Express the customer’s authenticated purchase intent, the company said in a Tuesday (April 14) press release.
“As commerce becomes more agent-powered, trust becomes the defining factor,” Luke Gebb, executive vice president and head of global innovation at American Express, said in the release. . . .
How Payments Infrastructure Must Evolve for Agentic Commerce
FinTech Weekly – April 14, 2026
Commerce is already moving beyond human checkout. AI agents are actively searching for products, comparing options and initiating purchases on behalf of consumers and businesses. Operating through browser automation, APIs and orchestration layers, these systems are executing multi-step transactions with increasing autonomy.
Software is no longer just assisting commerce. It is becoming a participant in the payment flow.
This shift exposes a structural gap in the payments ecosystem. Autonomous systems can now make purchasing decisions without direct human involvement, yet the infrastructure governing payments still assumes a person is present at the moment of authorization. . . .