Payments News Update – May 29, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: OCC Aims to Derail State Card Law
Payments Dive – May 26, 2026
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Friday in a court brief that a federal judge should block an Illinois law prohibiting interchange fees on the tax and tip portion of bills, adhering to regulators’ preemption of the measure.
The OCC issued an interim final order last month to preempt the Illinois statute. The federal agency’s revised final rule takes effect June 30, a day before the state’s Interchange Fee Prohibition Act is scheduled to take effect.
As the OCC order “will independently preempt the IFPA, this Court should refrain in the interest of prudence and judicial economy from issuing an opinion that will be mooted in the span of weeks,” the agency wrote in its amicus brief filed Friday. . . .
Discover Card ‘Misclassification’ Deal Worth Up To $1.2B OK’d
Law360 – May 21, 2026 (subscription required)
An Illinois federal judge Wednesday gave the final green light to a settlement under which Discover Financial Services will pay between $540 million and $1.2 billion to resolve class action allegations it misclassified certain credit card accounts.
U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger granted final approval to the deal, which put to rest a trio of class actions claiming the misclassifications led to merchants paying excess interchange fees for the processing of Discover credit card transactions. He said the settlement is, “in all respects, fair, reasonable and adequate and in the best interests of the settlement class.”
The judge certified a settlement class of all “end merchants, merchant acquirers and payment intermediaries involved in the processing or accepting a misclassified card transaction” between 2007 and 2023. . . .
CFPB Erases Pre-Trump 2.0 History
Banking Dive – May 21, 2026
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau deleted all press releases, testimony, speeches and most public statements Tuesday from before President Donald Trump took office for the second time.
The agency noted the deletions on its website but did not provide context or explanation. A CFPB spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All that remained under the website’s News tab were dozens of pre-February 2025 items in the Recent Updates section, specifically 476 items labeled “Report” and 99 items labeled “Office of Public Research.” . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Mastercard Secures New York BitLicense to Support Stablecoin and Digital Payment Infrastructure
CoinDesk – May 27, 2026
Mastercard has secured a New York BitLicense, allowing it to conduct digital asset activities under one of the toughest crypto regulatory regimes in the United States.
The approval advances Mastercard’s strategy to build blockchain-based payments and settlement infrastructure, with a particular focus on stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
The move highlights how major payment networks are preparing for a financial system in which blockchain-based rails operate alongside, rather than outside, traditional banking systems. . . .
FIS, Banks Mull Network Uses
Payments Dive – May 26, 2026
Fidelity National Information Services is brainstorming with banks about new ways to use its debit card network.
FIS owns the fourth-largest U.S. debit card network, NYCE Payments Network, allowing its bank clients to enable money transfers via cards used by consumers.
Banks’ use of debit networks has become a higher profile issue following Capital One Financial’s completion of the Discover Financial Services acquisition last year. That’s because Discover includes the debit card network Pulse. . . .