C|C Payments Blog

Payments News Update -- May 8, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Debit Dynamics Digital Transactions News – May 1, 2019 Merchants have said it before, and they’re saying it again: It’s high time the Federal Reserve lowers its regulated debit card interchange rate. The call by the Retail Industry Leaders Association came shortly after the Fed in March released its latest study of debit card revenues and expenses. The...

Brexit's Potential Impact on the UK Payments Industry

Like many around the world we have followed the trials and tribulations of Brexit with great interest.  It is beyond the scope of this blog to enter into the fraught territory of predicting the United Kingdom’s future relationship with Europe.  However, we have been following Brexit’s potential impact on payments regulations in the United Kingdom given the potential impact to UK merchants and Fintechs.  Below...

Payments News Update -- May 1, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Factors Align for Widespread U.S. Contactless Payments Adoption, A Fed Study Suggests Digital Transactions News – April 26, 2019 The conditions for the widespread adoption of contactless payments using chip cards are in place, asserts a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. But when that will happen and what will trigger it are unknown in the Fed...

Does the Token Taxonomy Act Offer “Security” for Blockchain?

Blockchain and cryptocurrency, which some call the most innovative technology since the internet, should be dominating America’s tech industry. But it isn’t. A lack of regulatory certainty combined with inconsistent guidance from the SEC and the courts has crypto-startups flourishing overseas instead of right here at home. As a result, the Token Taxonomy Act (“TTA”) has been reintroduced in the House of...

Payments News Update -- April 24, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: The Government's Set a Steep Learning Curve for Crypto Compliance PaymentSource PayThink – April 22, 2019 The market and regulatory forces that fueled a substantial uptick in merger and acquisition activity in the blockchain industry in the U.S. in 2018 are expected to continue through 2019. Cryptocurrency prices remain significantly below their high-water...

TCH Just Made the Case for a Federal Reserve Real-Time Payments Alternative

For many years, The Clearing House (“TCH”) has occupied an unusual space in the payments industry.  Owned by 26 of the largest banks in the United States, TCH is uniquely capable of deploying a set of payment rails that could be transformative.  Few can match what TCH brings to the table.  TCH operates a wire transfer platform (CHIPS), an ACH network (EPN), a check imaging system and, most consequentially, a...

PSD2 and the Future of Payment Services in Europe

Open Banking is a major topic of discussion in the United States as a potential solution to the lack of competition in the marketplace.  The European payments services directive (“PSD2”) is the most comprehensive Open Banking initiative we are aware of, and its progress is a good barometer of whether such regulations can successfully introduce new competition in payments.  Our London office prepared the...

Payments News Update -- April 17, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Appeals Court Revives £14B Mastercard Class Action Law360 – April 16, 2019 An appeals court in London on Tuesday revived a £14 billion ($18.3 billion) proposed class action lawsuit accusing Mastercard of flouting European Union competition law by charging consumers high credit card fees, in a test of the U.K.’s fledgling class action regime.  The Court of...

Visa’s Proposed Acquisition of Earthport – A Good Test for Antitrust in the 21st Century

As the 2020 Presidential election begins to heat up, something unusual is happening – antitrust policy is being bandied about as an election issue.  The reason for this is simple.  We live in an era of increasing concentrations of wealth and industrial power.  While the impulse to look at antitrust as part of the solution makes perfect sense, many of the proposals on the table, including the suggestion by one...

Adyen Offers PSD2 Payments to European Merchants, and U.S. Merchants Should Take Notice

Adyen (Surinamese for "start over again") is a growing Netherlands-based payment platform. Adyen is among the leading providers whose business model is designed to capitalize on the European Union’s Payment Service Directive (“PSD2”), which requires banks to offer application programming interfaces (“APIs”) for third parties to initiate direct bank-to-merchant payments.  The company recently announced a...