Weekly News Update

Payments News Update – September 22, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: California Legislature Passes Plastic Gift Card Ban Payments Dive – September 21, 2023 California’s legislature has passed a bill that would outlaw plastic gift cards, with legislators in the Senate and Assembly overcoming some opposition this month in votes approving the legislation, according to the state’s legislative website. About 70% of retail gift...

Payments News Update – September 15, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: The CFPB Eyes Tech Firms’ Role in Governing Tap-To-Pay Digital Transactions News – September 8, 2023 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late Thursday released a report raising questions about the part restrictions imposed by big technology firms like Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc’s Google subsidiary may play in hampering innovation, consumer choice, and the...

Payments News Update – September 1, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: US Debit Has Become More Competitive for CNP Merchants The Paypers – August 31, 2023 Since 2011, most card-not-present (CNP) merchants have had limited access to alternative debit networks due to issuers not enabling transaction routing. Now, nearly two months since the Federal Reserve codified that issuers must enable two networks for ‘all types of...

Payments News Update - August 25, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: New Jersey Limits Card Surcharging to Merchants’ Processing Fees Digital Transactions News – August 22, 2023 New Jersey has implemented a law that prohibits merchants in the state from profiting from credit card surcharging and requires merchants to clearly disclose any surcharges to consumers. The law, which was passed by the New Jersey legislature in June...

Payments News Update - July 28, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: DOJ Continues to Probe Visa Over Debit Cards, Other Payment Methods PYMNTS – July 26, 2023 Visa is reportedly under continued scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice. A new civil investigative demand, similar to a subpoena, was filed May 2, bringing to light a deepening inquiry into the payment processor’s practices, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (July...

Payments News Update - July 14, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: CFPB Takes Action Against Bank of America for Illegally Charging Junk Fees, Withholding Credit Card Rewards, and Opening Fake Accounts CFPB – July 11, 2023 Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Bank of America to pay more than $100 million to customers for systematically double-dipping on fees imposed on customers with insufficient funds in...

Payments News Update - June 2, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: More Than 80% Of Central Banks Are Investigating CBDC Central Banking – June 2, 2023 Eighty-three per cent of central banks are working on projects investigating central bank digital currency (CBDC) for retail payments purposes, data from the Payments Benchmark 2023 shows. Eighteen central banks said they were in the research phase of CBDC development. Another...

Payments News Update - March 31, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Ottawa Moves to Lower Credit Card Swipe Fees for Small Businesses in 2023 Budget The Globe and Mail – March 28, 2023 The federal government said it has worked out a deal with Visa and Mastercard to lower the transaction fees that small businesses pay every time a customer uses their credit card. The 2023 federal budget, released Tuesday, said the government...

Payments News Update - March 10, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: The Credit Card Competition Act: What Is It, and Why You Should Care PaymentsJournal – March 7, 2023 The Credit Card Competition Act—introduced last year by a bipartisan group of senators—may be under consideration during this session of Congress, and industry groups are lining up for and against. If implemented, cards from the nation’s largest banks...

Payments News Update - July 22, 2022

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Lawsuit Accuses Apple of Antitrust Violations Over Apple Pay Reuters – July 18, 2022 Apple Inc (AAPL.O) was sued on Monday in a proposed class action by payment card issuers accusing the iPhone maker of abusing its market power in mobile devices to thwart competition for its Apple Pay mobile wallet. According to a complaint filed in San Francisco federal...