Weekly News Update

Payments News Update – October 15, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: European Banks Debate Rival to US Payment Giants Politico EU – September 30, 2021 Europe’s biggest banks will decide if it’s in their interests to take on the U.S. payment duopoly of Mastercard and Visa as soon as next month, as political pressure grows to break American dominance in this space. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, BNP Paribas, ING, Santander, UniCredit...

Payments News Update – October 1, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Alibaba Apps Start Offering WeChat Pay Option After Government Orders Reuters – September 28, 2021 China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has begun offering payment services from Tencent Holdings Ltd’s WeChat on a number of its apps, after the government ordered major tech firms to stop blocking each other’s services and links. Local tech blog 36Kr reported on...

Payments News Update – August 26, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Outgoing NY Governor Signs Bill to Limit Overdraft Practices at State-Chartered Banks Banking Dive – August 20, 2021 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Thursday aimed at helping consumers avoid bank overdraft fees. The law requires New York-regulated banks to process checks in the order they are received, or from smallest to largest, to prevent customers...

Payments News Update – August 13, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Merchants Redouble Their Efforts to Push the Fed on Debit’s Routing and Pricing Rules Digital Transactions News – August 11, 2021 With a Federal Reserve deadline hitting Wednesday for comments on decade-old debit card regulations, large merchants are firing some last-minute salvos in hopes of influencing the Fed to make major revisions to rules governing...

Payments News Update – July 30, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Why Biden’s Executive Order Is a Green Light for Us Open Banking Finextra – July 28, 2021 On July 9 2021, President Biden didn’t just throw a bone to US open banking, he underwrote the mortgage, laid the welcome mat, and set the table to officially welcome open banking to the neighbourhood. Yes, open banking is nothing new to the US. With numerous American...

Payments News Update – July 23, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: DOJ Official Cites Efforts to Fight Anti-Competitive Practices as NRF Holds First Retail Law Summit NRF – July 21, 2021 A top Department of Justice official says the agency’s successful effort to keep credit card giant Visa from acquiring — and potentially shutting down — financial technology innovator Plaid shows how the nation’s antitrust laws can be used...

Payments News Update – July 9, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Clash Over Debit Card Routing Persists In Comments to Fed Payments Dive – July 8, 2021 Clashing comments have gushed into the Federal Reserve in the past two months over its proposal to clarify rules on the routing of debit card transactions, and they show familiar battle lines being drawn. The Fed in May proposed a clarification of existing rules requiring that...

Payments News Update – June 25, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Federal Reserve Board Extends Comment Period on Proposed Changes to Regulation II Federal Reserve Board – June 22, 2021 (click here for the Board's Federal Register notice) The Federal Reserve Board announced on Tuesday that it will extend until August 11, 2021, the comment period for its proposed changes to Regulation II (Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing)...

Payments News Update – June 18, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Lina Khan, Prominent Big Tech Critic, Will Lead the FTC NPR – June 15, 2021 President Joe Biden has named Lina Khan as the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, giving the regulatory authority's top spot to one of Silicon Valley's most prominent critics. The surprise move elevating Khan to one of the most powerful regulatory positions in Washington was...

Payments News Update – June 11, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: A Surcharging Bill Advances to the Colorado Governor’s Desk Digital Transactions News – June 9, 2021 Soon, there might be just two states that prohibit credit card surcharging with the passage Tuesday of a bill in Colorado that would permit the pricing strategy. The bill, SB21-091, passed both the Colorado House and Senate and now moves to Governor Jared...