Weekly News Update

Payments News Update – January 21, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: CFPB Under Chopra Will Be Aggressive Consumer Watchdog, Experts Say Compliance Week – January 19, 2021 Rohit Chopra, currently a Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, has been nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Unlike some Biden nominations (think Janet Yellen at the Treasury...

Payments News Update – January 14, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Visa Will Not Acquire Plaid After Running Into Regulatory Wall TechCrunch – January 12, 2021 Visa and Plaid called off their agreement this afternoon, ending the consumer credit giant’s takeover of the data-focused fintech API startup. The deal, valued at $5.3 billion at the time of its announcement, first broke cover on January 13, 2020, or nearly one year ago...

Payments News Update – December 24, 2020

DEEPER DIVE: The DOJ Is Right in Suing to Stop Visa’s Deal for Plaid. Here’s Why: Part I and Part II In a two-part article, payments industry expert Mark Horwedel discusses the DOJ’s lawsuit concerning Visa’s acquisition of Plaid.

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Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Apple Pay Antitrust Pressure Grows as Service Heads Towards 10% of All Transactions 9to5Mac – December 18, 2020 Apple...

Payments News Update – December 17, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Will a U.K. Class Action Case Influence Interchange Policy in the United States? Digital Transactions News – December 14, 2020 A class of 46 million consumers in the United Kingdom cleared a major hurdle last week when the country’s Supreme Court ruled that a class-action suit brought against Mastercard Inc. for excessive interchange fees can proceed. But they...

Payments News Update – December 10, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Facebook’s Antitrust Problems Are Jeopardizing Its Plans for WhatsApp Quartz – December 9, 2020 Facebook doesn’t make much money from WhatsApp. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that forcing the company to sell the messaging app—as US prosecutors have called for in a new antitrust suit filed on Dec. 9—represents an “existential” threat to the business....

Payments News Update – December 3, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Visa Is Doing What Big American Companies Do to ‘Protect This Business’ The New York Times – December 2, 2020 (subscription required) Visa dominates the lucrative business of processing debit card transactions. Merchants must choose between paying the financial services company’s fees or forgoing sales to the millions of Americans who carry cards emblazoned...

Payments News Update – November 12, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: DOJ Suit Over Visa, Plaid Deal Sounds a Lot Like a Monopoly Case Bloomberg Law – November 10, 2020 The government’s lawsuit to block Visa Inc.'s $5.3 billion acquisition of Plaid Inc. contains language that could stir expectations of possibly stronger actions against the credit card giant. The case, filed Nov. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern...

Payments News Update – November 5, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit Challenging Visa's Planned Acquisition of Plaid Wall Street Journal – November 5, 2020 (subscription required) The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Thursday that seeks to block Visa Inc.’s V 2.65% $5.3 billion deal to acquire Plaid Inc., a key player in the financial-technology space. The department...

Payments News Update – October 29, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: The DOJ Is Investigating Visa’s $5.3 Billion Bid for Plaid on Antitrust Grounds Tech Crunch – October 28, 2020 It’s not just big tech that’s getting the antitrust treatment from the Department of Justice. Late Monday afternoon, the Department of Justice tipped its hand that it was investigating Visa’s proposed $5.3 billion acquisition of the venture-backed...

Payments News Update – October 22, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: UK Retailers Attack Visa and Mastercard Over Card Fees Finextra – October 20, 2020 The latest payments survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) shows card use continuing to rise steadily from 54% of transactions in 2016 to 61% in 2019. At the same time, the cost to retailers of accepting payments reached £1.1 billion in 2019, of which £950m was from card...