Payments News Update – March 13, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Fintechs Urge New York to Rethink Buy Now, Pay Later Regulations
National Today – March 9, 2026
Financial technology companies are calling on New York’s banking regulator to reconsider a proposal that would establish licensing requirements and interest rate caps on buy now, pay later loans.
The industry group argues that many of the rules, previously designed for open-end credit products like credit cards, don’t properly address the unique structure of one-time, fixed-repayment buy now, pay later offerings.
The buy now, pay later industry has seen rapid growth in recent years, offering consumers an alternative to traditional credit cards. . . .
Top US Banks Weigh Suing Federal Regulator Over Crypto Banking Rules
The Guardian – March 9, 2026
Some of the largest US banks are considering suing their financial regulator, arguing that a new raft of licenses for crypto, payment and fintech could put American consumers and the wider financial system at risk.
The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), which represents 40 of the biggest US lenders including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, is understood to be weighing its legal options after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) failed to heed repeated warnings from influential banking groups and state regulators over its reinterpretation of federal licensing rules.
The OCC, which is led by Jonathan Gould, a Donald Trump appointee and former crypto executive, has effectively made it easier for crypto and fintech upstarts to secure and operate under a national bank trust charter, giving them the right to serve customers across all 50 states. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Real-Time Payments Reach a Turning Point in North America
PYMNTS – March 9, 2026
Real-time payments in North America are moving decisively from expansion to execution. Instant payment systems across the United States, Canada and Mexico are scaling, modernizing and broadening their reach.
But each country is following a distinct strategic path.
In the U.S., real-time payments have entered a phase defined by volume growth, institutional adoption and expanding use cases across both the RTP® network and the FedNow® Service. Analysts project transaction volumes to reach 8 billion in 2026 and nearly 13.9 billion by 2028. . . .
PayPal Pivots for 2026
Payments Dive – March 10, 2026
PayPal Holdings will focus on buttressing its branded checkout services this year, redoubling efforts to assist its biggest merchants in rolling out features that provide the best experience possible for consumers, the company’s chief financial and operating officer, Jamie Miller, said during an investor conference Tuesday.
The company “had a lot of learnings,” Miller said at the Wolfe Research Fintech Forum. She noted a deceleration for its main PayPal branded checkout services in the second half of last year.
“What we really learned was we’ve been very focused on scaling across the whole portfolio,” Miller said. “We need to take a much more targeted approach to be able to scale that, and that’s really part of our pivot.”. . .