Law and Regulation

While the two global payments networks have been embroiled in a controversy over merchant debit card fees in the U.S. market, they also face trouble in the United Kingdom over an even bigger issue: credit card interchange fees. That fact was thrown into relief early Thursday when Reuters reported the …

Mastercard Inc. said it will slowly phase out the requirement that its branded cards have a magnetic stripe in favor of the EMV chip. Beginning in 2024, in most markets, newly issued Mastercard credit and debit cards will not be required to bear the magstripe. By 2033, Mastercard said none of …

When talking about crypto exchanges, it’s common to divide them into the big, stable, safe, reliable ones on the one hand, and the little, unknown, shady, and suspicious ones on the other. However, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s financial regulator, seems not to have a very high opinion …

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday lent its weight to a proposed rule from the Federal Reserve Board that would reinforce merchants’ choice of networks for e-commerce transactions arising from debit cards. At the same time, it suggested the rule could be made more stringent. Justice’s support for the …

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 transaction routing and pricing. “[M]ajor banks and networks continue to interfere with competition for debit business,” …

An Australian Parliament committee held a hearing investigating Apple Inc.’s policies regarding access to the secure element for payment services on its smart phones, according to a ZDNet.com report. Apple argued its hardware-based interface is more secure than a software-focused one. Google, which uses host card emulation software for Google Pay, said …

Visa Inc. has been concentrating on building out its “network-of-networks” strategy for some time, and it’s latest move in that project came early Thursday with the news that it has agreed to acquire Currency Cloud Ltd., a London-based developer of application programming interfaces that can simplify cross-border payments. The deal values …

Since PayPal’s launch more than 20 years ago, the peer-to-peer and digital-cash service industry has seen exponential growth, and with it, exponential amounts of fraud.  An estimated 70% of Americans use peer-to-peer and digital-cash services, and many turned to these products during the pandemic. However, in just the first four …

With Colorado Governor Jared Polis signing Senate Bill 21-091, repealing the state’s ban on credit card surcharging, Colorado has a surcharging law that not only ensures proper disclosure about surcharges to consumers, but mirrors the surcharging rules implemented by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. The new law, signed by Polis …

The U.S. Justice Department charged two individuals in a $19 million credit card laundering scheme. Arrested were Steven Short, former head of E.M. Systems & Services LLC on charges of fraudulently obtaining credit card processing services for his allegedly deceptive Florida-based telemarketing operation. From 2012 to 2015, Short and E.M. Systems, …