Payments News Update – April 24, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Congress Moves to Give FinTechs Direct Fed Payment Access With PACE Bill
PYMNTS – April 22, 2026
The future of payments infrastructure may hinge less on technology than on who is permitted to connect to it.
Legislation introduced in the U.S. House this week, known as the Payments Access and Consumer Efficiency Act (PACE Act), would establish a federal registration pathway for nonbank providers seeking direct access to the Federal Reserve’s core payment systems, including Fedwire, the FedNow® Service and ACH.
The proposal lands as real-time capabilities and settlement certainty shift from competitive advantages to baseline expectations across the digital economy. . . .
Visa, Mastercard Face New Suit Over Card Fees
Payments Dive – April 23, 2026
Three New York merchants want a federal judge to remove legal immunity for Visa and Mastercard from a 2019 damages settlement over card interchange fees that covers millions of merchants.
The request for summary judgment was put to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday. That action came from a lawsuit the merchants filed the same day against Visa and Mastercard in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
They’re requesting the judgment from Cogan to allow for their complaint against the networks to proceed in the other court. . . .
How the Visa-Mastercard Card Fee Case May End
Payments Dive – April 20, 2026
A proposed settlement to end decades of litigation over card interchange fees faces uncertain odds of approval, with some of the largest U.S. retailers, including Walmart, arrayed against it.
The pact might also be the best one that merchants, the card networks and banks can achieve, lawyers said.
The question hanging over the settlement is whether a federal judge finds that it contains suitable modifications from prior efforts that courts rejected in 2016 and 2024, said Paul Kaplan, an antitrust attorney with the law firm Greenspoon Marder, who is not involved with the case. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: It’s Level 3 or Bust as Visa’s Interchange Shift Rewires B2B Data
PYMNTS – April 21, 2026
B2B payments are becoming a data-rich world. That’s creating new challenges for data-poor businesses.
As of Saturday (April 18), Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP) officially phased out its Level 2 interchange program, replacing the legacy incentive structures with a new interchange system that rewards one thing above all: high-quality, verifiable Level 3 data.
What was once an optional optimization for B2B card payments is now the primary pathway to cost efficiency. For CFOs and operators, the implications may be as immediate as the Level 2 sunset, and their consequences are not merely technical ones. . . .
Truist Pilots Zelle Bill Payments
Finextra – April 23, 2026
The pilot will see employees at Truist test Zelle for paying recurring credit card bills.
This, say the partners, could potentially pave the way for a host of other bill pay applications such as rent, utilities, mobile services and auto payments.
Testing is focused on end-to-end predictability, using fast confirmation and posting behaviour to support consistent outcomes for consumers and billers across routine payments. . . .
Nacha: Same-Day ACH First-Quarter Volume Grew 23.6%
Digital Transactions News – April 20, 2026
The climb in same-day automated clearing house volume continues as 403 million of these payments were made in 2026’s first quarter, a 23.6% increase from the same quarter a year ago.
Started in 2016 for credit payments only, same-day ACH volume has steadily grown, especially with the 2017 addition of same-day ACH debit payments.
Total same-day ACH volume has ballooned from 13 million in 2016 to 1.4 billion in 2025. Same-day ACH debit payments comprised 56.6% of the total 2025 volume and credit 43.4%. . . .