Payments News Update – July 31, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Why the Credit Card Industry Is Spending $200 Million to Oppose This Legislation—While Big Box Retailers Support It
Forbes – July 23, 2026
The Credit Card Competition Act, or CCCA, targets swipe fees, which are the extra charge —typically 2-3%—that merchants pay to networks like Visa and Mastercard when users make a credit card purchase.
Merchants typically account for those fees by raising prices to build them in, and some $198.25 billion in credit card swipe fees were paid in 2025 alone, which amounts to costing each American household roughly $1,200 annually.
The CCCA would make it possible for merchants to have smaller networks besides Visa and Mastercard process credit card payments and get the swipe fees—meaning it will increase competition, and, the thinking goes, hopefully lower swipe fees for merchants and prices for consumers as a result. . . .
Fed Opens a New Front in Access to Its Payment Rails
PYMNTS – July 27, 2026
The Federal Reserve wants to make it easier for some eligible institutions to connect directly to its payment services without giving them everything that comes with a Master Account.
Monday (July 27) is the comment deadline for the Fed’s Proposed Revisions to the Federal Reserve Policy on Payment System Risk and the Guidelines for Account and Services Requests, or OP-1878. Comment letters are drawing different requests and concerns from banks and FinTechs.
The proposal would create an optional, special-purpose Payment Account for institutions already legally eligible for Reserve Bank accounts. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Use Case Evolution Is One Factor in RTP’s Instant Payments Growth
Digital Transactions News – July 27, 2026
Business-to-business payments were one of the first use cases for instant payments when the RTP network from The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC debuted in 2017.
As more businesses and consumers want to use such services, the use cases are evolving, with digital wallets—like PayPal and Venmo—now being the largest use cases on the RTP network.
“We are now finding that customers, businesses, [and] individuals are finding more and more uses for instant payments almost daily,” Jim Colassano, TCH, senior vice president of product development and strategy, tells Digital Transactions News. . . .
Mastercard Bolsters Scam Defense
Payments Dive – July 27, 2026
Mastercard instituted a new scam prevention program last week, seeking to draw merchants and their acquiring banks into the fight against fraud.
The card network now requires acquiring banks that process Mastercard payments for retailers, restaurants and other merchants to follow up within three days on certain flagged fraud activity.
New rules under Mastercard’s Scam Merchant Monitoring Program went into effect Friday, according to a panel discussion at the Midwest Acquirers Association’s annual conference last week. . . .
U.S. Faster Payments Council Unveils Strategic Roadmap for Stablecoins in Cross-Border Payments
Fintech Finance News – July 23, 2026
The U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC) has released a comprehensive report exploring how stablecoins for cross-border payments can solve traditional banking inefficiencies.
By utilizing blockchain-based settlement models, financial institutions can achieve faster transaction speeds, lower operational costs, and enhanced transparency compared to legacy correspondent banking systems.
Stablecoins for cross-border payments offer a transformative alternative to the fragmented correspondent banking network. . . .