Weekly News Update

Payments News Update -- November 21, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Visa Confirms the FTC Is Probing Its Debit Transaction Routing Practices Digital Transactions News – November 18, 2019 Confirming rumors that the Federal Trade Commission is looking into issues involving debit card transaction routing, Visa Inc. late last week reported the Federal Trade Commission has asked it to voluntarily provide information about its routing...

Payments News Update -- August 28, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments As Brexit Nears, Uncertainty Swarms Cross-Border Payments PaymentsSource – August 28, 2019 (subscription required) Processors that rely on cross-border payments to reach new territories are feeling the economic squeeze of the looming Brexit deadline. The problem with Brexit is less about politics and regulation, and more about how these factors will impact processing...

Payments News Update -- August 21, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Visa Critical of India's Move Toward No-Fee Debit Card Transactions Reuters – August 19, 2019 Global card payments group Visa is critical of the Indian government’s decision to boost adoption of electronic payments by requiring banks and card payment networks to offer no-fee debit card transactions, a senior Visa executive said. Last month, India’s Finance...

Payments News Update -- August 14, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: UK's Financial Conduct Authority to Delay PSD2's SCA, FT Reports The Paypers – August 8, 2019 The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is set to delay enforcement of PSD2’s SCA by more than 18 months, after warnings that the rules would threat online sales. Strong customer authentication (SCA) rules, which are due to be introduced in September 14, 2019, require...

Payments News Update -- August 7, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: It’s Official: The Fed Is Jumping Into Real-Time Payments With FedNow Digital Transactions News – August 5, 2019 Ending months of speculation, the Federal Reserve confirmed Monday it will launch a real-time payments service by 2023 or 2024. The banking regulator, which also published Monday a notice in the Federal Register outlining its plan and requesting...

Payments News Update -- July 31, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Visa and Kroger Settle Debit-Routing Lawsuit, but Partial Credit Card Boycott Continues Digital Transactions News – July 31, 2019 The Kroger Co. and Visa Inc. have settled a 2016 federal lawsuit in which Kroger alleged Visa interfered with its transaction-routing plans for EMV debit cards, Digital Transactions News has learned. In a separate dispute, however, the...

Payments News Update -- July 24, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: US Reps, Senators Present Faster Payments Legislation PYMNTS – July 24, 2019 To reinforce the Federal Reserve’s authority to create a real-time payments system and mandate that the Fed brings about its own process, two U.S. representatives and two U.S. senators have introduced the Payment Modernization Act of 2019. The legislation was brought forward...

Payments News Update -- July 17, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: How Digital Banks Are Breaking up Latin America's Finance Monopolies OZY – July 11, 2019 Gabriela Franco clutches her phone, frustrated. Her bank in São Paulo is on the other end. She needs to wire money right away to a separate account at her bank. But the representative is telling her she has “to be there — like, physically — at the bank in São Paulo to...

Payments News Update -- July 3, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Antitrust Chronicle – Ohio v. American Express: A Year Later… Competition Policy International – June 25, 2019 (click here for the full report) On June 25, 2018, the Supreme Court sided in a 5-4 decision with American Express in a lawsuit over rules it imposes on merchants who accept its cards. The Supreme Court’s decision in Ohio v. American Express...

Payments News Update -- June 26, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Tariff Pressure Takes Aim at Payment Equipment Once Again  Digital Transactions News – June 20, 2019 While legislators and regulators focused much of their attention on the Facebook-backed Libra cryptocurrency this week, tariffs on Chinese-made goods re-emerged in Washington as a threat that could raise prices for merchants and merchant acquirers. The...