Payments News Update – June 19, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Sherrill Goes After Junk Fees
New Jersey Globe – June 15, 2026
Gov. Mikie Sherrill launched a new administration-wide effort today to crack down on hidden junk fees, signing Executive Order 19 directing state agencies to examine surprise and confusing charges in the industries they regulate and develop strategies to eliminate them.
The executive order requires all executive branch agencies to review the prevalence of surprise billing and junk fees within their respective jurisdictions and report their findings to the Governor’s Office by September 14. Agencies must also provide recommendations on how to eliminate or reduce the prevalence and amount of such fees.
Sherrill also indicated support for moving New Jersey toward a more “all-in” pricing model. . . .
Visa, Mastercard Say ‘Old’ Deal Bars ‘New’ Merchant Suit
Law360 – June 17, 2026 (subscription required)
Visa and Mastercard asked a New York federal court to shut down a new proposed class action from merchants seeking to get around the future claims release in the credit card companies’ $5.6 billion transaction fees antitrust settlement, arguing the new merchants are clearly bound by the old deal.
The merchants are seeking a declaration that their new lawsuit, filed in April in the Southern District of New York, is unbound by the 2019 settlement in the Eastern District of New York. But the Tuesday filing from Visa and Mastercard opposed that request and asked for their own injunction that would require the dismissal of the new case.
Both the long-running multidistrict litigation and the new lawsuit target rules set by the credit card companies that allegedly reduced choice and forced merchants to accept higher-fee cards without the ability to refuse them or steer consumers toward ones with cheaper rates. . . .
The 4 Biggest Problems Banks Have With Stablecoins
PYMNTS – June 15, 2026
There’s a battle brewing over blockchain finance. Banks view stablecoins as a new form of private money that lacks the stabilizing infrastructure developed around banking over the past century.
Stablecoin advocates counter that many of those protections emerged only after innovation occurred, and that competition from blockchain-based payments could ultimately produce a more efficient financial system.
In many respects, the cryptocurrency industry has already won the first phase of the argument. The GENIUS Act regulating stablecoins was signed into law last summer and is in its rulemaking period. However, the federal rulemaking process is surfacing some of the traditional financial sector’s deepest-held concerns around stablecoins and digital assets more broadly . . . .
Trump Nominates CFPB’s Former No. 2 as Director
Banking Dive – June 10, 2026
Brian Johnson, who held the No. 2 spot within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2018 to 2020, has been tapped to lead the agency.
Johnson was nominated Wednesday afternoon by President Donald Trump to lead the consumer watchdog for five years. He’s a senior executive at Capital One, Reuters reported.
If confirmed by the Senate, Johnson would replace Russ Vought, who has led the agency as acting director – and tried to dismantle it – since February 2025. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Apple Delves Deeper Into Payments
Payments Dive – June 16, 2026
Apple is planning significant but subtle changes for its digital wallet and payment tools as the tech giant leans into artificial intelligence to make consumer transactions simpler.
The company’s “tap to share” function planned for release later this year will let shoppers with an Apple device share data such as billing and shipping addresses, or loyalty program rewards details, with a merchant.
That change extends the common consumer sharing of photos or contact information with phone taps into the business domain, noted Kris Winckler, a senior associate with payments consulting firm The Strawhecker Group. . . .
Visa Says Stablecoins Are ‘Reshaping the Back End’ of Commerce as It Expands AI, Tokenization Efforts
The Block – June 11, 2026
Visa used its annual payments forum on Wednesday to position stablecoins as a growing part of global payments infrastructure, outlining its initiatives spanning settlement, tokenization, and artificial intelligence.
During a keynote presentation, Jack Forestell, the company’s chief product and strategy officer, argued that stablecoins and AI are reshaping different layers of the payments stack.
“AI is transforming the front end of commerce. Stablecoins are reshaping the back end,” said Forestell. “Visa’s role is to enable it to work securely, reliably and at global scale, for every participant in the ecosystem.” . . .
A Year In, VAMP Is Turning Acquirer Anxiety Into Opportunity
Digital Transactions News – June 10, 2026
More than a year after Visa Inc. launched the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program, acquirers and their vendors are adapting to the new way of keeping tabs on fraud and chargeback levels.
Known as VAMP, the program, according to Visa, consolidated five fraud and dispute programs and reduced 38 distinct remediation processes into one program. A year later, Visa has released six new or updated dispute-resolution services.
These changes may seem daunting, but they don’t appear to be turning out that way. . . .