Payments News Update – May 1, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Federal Agency Casts Further Uncertainty on Illinois’ Credit Card ‘Swipe Fee’ Law
Capitol News Illinois – April 27, 2026
A federal agency says Illinois can’t limit credit card swipe fees for federally chartered banks, even though a federal judge earlier this year ruled that it could.
Two interim filings posted last week by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent subsection of the U.S. Treasury Department, represent the latest twist in a two-year legislative fight between banks and retailers.
One of the filings specifically preempts the state’s first-of-its-kind Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, throwing the policy into further uncertainty by creating a second legal front and added pressure on state lawmakers amid an ongoing appellate court case. . . .
Visa, Mastercard Defend Card Fee Settlement
Payments Dive – April 28, 2026
Walmart and other large merchants would face considerable work to create card surcharge and discount programs under the terms of a proposed card-fee legal settlement, they told a federal judge Monday.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan called the hearing for merchants who oppose the settlement to elucidate their problems with the proposed settlement.
Meanwhile, supporters of the pact — Visa, Mastercard and the plaintiffs’ counsel — on Monday explained to Cogan why he should approve the pact and responded to the objectors’ arguments about why it falls short. . . .
Convenience Store Advocate: Swipe Fee Ruling Is ‘One Step’ in the Process
The Center Square – April 27, 2026
The OCC ruled on Friday that national banks and savings associations are not required to comply with the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, which is scheduled to take effect July 1. The rule does not apply to community banks, state-chartered banks or credit unions.
The OCC issued a second rule to block similar prohibitions under consideration in other states.
Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said the OCC has a long history of contradicting presidential administrations in favor of big Wall Street banks. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: PayPal Reorganizes in Bid to Revive Growth
PYMNTS – April 29, 2026
PayPal Holdings announced a reorganization that includes a new three-business operating model and five leadership appointments.
The company’s three businesses are checkout solutions and PayPal, which includes its consumer and merchant ecosystems; consumer financial services and Venmo, which will expand Venmo into a broader consumer financial services platform; and payment services and crypto, which brings together the company’s processing and platform capabilities, PayPal said in a Wednesday (April 29) press release.
The leadership appointments announced Wednesday include Frank Keller as president of checkout solutions and PayPal, Alexis Sowa as interim lead of consumer financial services and Venmo, and Jeff Pomeroy as interim lead of payment services and crypto. . . .
Harnessing AI to Fight Fraud
Payments Dive – April 28, 2026
Payments players are increasingly counting on artificial intelligence to help fight AI-fueled fraud.
That’s what payments and bank professionals speaking at the Nacha Smarter Faster Payments conference in San Diego said Monday regarding their hope that they can start using artificial intelligence to respond to fraudsters who have sharpened their attacks using the technology.
“The entire environment has completely changed, and we’re in a situation where you really need AI to fight AI,” said Matt Vega, who is chief fraud strategist at the anti-fraud and compliance startup Sardine. . . .
Many Consumers Say ‘No Thanks’ to Agent-Based Payments
Digital Transactions News – April 27, 2026
It’s still early days for agentic commerce, in which artificial-intelligence agents could complete a shopping transaction on behalf of a consumer.
And it appears consumers may want to forestall such transactions until they get much more comfortable with the technology, suggests the Riskified Agentic Commerce Pulse first-quarter report.
Riskified, with dual headquarters in New York City and Israel, says the report, which surveyed 2,000 consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom, found that 61.5% of them have used AI tools to discover products and receive recommendations, though 55% of all respondents were not comfortable with AI agents making purchases on their behalf. . . .