Weekly News Update

Payments News Update – April 5, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Mastercard Still Raising Some Fees on Retailers After Settlement Bloomberg Law – April 3, 2024 (subscription may be required) Mastercard Inc. plans to increase certain credit card fees charged to merchants beginning April 15, just days after the company and Visa Inc. trumpeted a $30 billion settlement over separate swipe fees designed to provide relief to retail...

Payments News Update – March 29, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Visa, Mastercard Swipe Fee Deal Fails to Stem More Litigation Bloomberg Law – March 28, 2024 (subscription may be required) Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc.'s $30 billion swipe fee settlement with merchants provides only temporary relief for US businesses and won’t stop additional litigation against the payment networks, critics say. The companies this week...

Payments News Update – March 8, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Taking the Measure of Click to Cancel Digital Transactions Magazine – March 1, 2024 Faced with a proposal to make it easier to stop a subscription, payments companies and subscription specialists have much to ponder. Everyone dreads the inevitable sales pitch that comes when trying to cancel some subscriptions. There’s multiple pages to read online and the...

Payments News Update – March 1, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: GOP Senators Propose Ban on Central Bank Digital Currencies The Hill – February 26, 2024 Republican senators introduced legislation Monday that would ban official cryptocurrencies backed by central banks, a type of proposed digital asset that the Biden administration and Federal Reserve have expressed interest in studying. GOP senators said that Fed-backed...

Payments News Update – February 23, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: US Supreme Court Wrestles With Bid to Challenge Debit Card 'Swipe Fee' Rule Reuters – February 20, 2024 U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday grappled with a North Dakota convenience store's challenge to a government regulation on debit card "swipe fees" - a case that could make it easier for businesses to try to undo longstanding federal rules. Arguments in the...

Payments News Update – February 16, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Senator Calls Card CEOs on Congressional Carpet Payments Dive – February 14, 2024 Sen. Dick Durbin, who has long railed about antitrust issues in the card network industry, told the CEOs of Visa and Mastercard they should show up for an April congressional hearing, and not send subordinates. In Monday letters to Visa CEO Ryan McInerney and Mastercard CEO Michael...

Payments News Update – February 9, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Lawmakers Clash on CFPB Digital Payment Rule Payments Dive – February 1, 2024 Three Democratic U.S. senators wrote an open letter on Wednesday to Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, expressing support for a proposed rule that would let the bureau oversee digital payment apps, such as Zelle and Venmo. The letter, from Sens. Jack...

Payments News Update – February 2, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Payments Regulation and Legislation Abound in 2024 Payments Dive – January 30, 2024 An odd pair of payments trends will drive increased regulatory and legislative scrutiny of the industry this year. Antitrust concerns are leading regulators and lawmakers to crack down on payments plays by dominant companies, such as card network Visa and tech titan Apple. But a...

Payments News Update – January 26, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: 'More Than Enough' Amex Evidence for Visa, Mastercard Trial Law360 – January 23, 2024 (subscription required) Visa and Mastercard appear bound for trial on antitrust claims over network rules forcing merchants to accept the companies' cards without the ability to steer consumers to cheaper swipe fee options, under a New York federal judge's ruling unsealed Monday...

Payments News Update – January 19, 2024

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: States Race Ahead of US Lawmakers in Payments Payments Dive – January 12, 2024 The federal government has made a valiant effort to keep up with the fast-changing world of payments, but it’s falling behind the 50 states lately. New York is a striking example of the phenomenon. Not only did that state pass a law requiring merchants to cap their credit card...