June, 2024

• 1 June

  Get Set for an Emboldened CFPB

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s victory at the Supreme Court last month answers for now the question of its constitutionality and may quiet the agency’s critics. But make no mistake: the CFPB remains a potent agent of federal power operating with an aggressive agenda. Indeed, some payments experts fear the …

May, 2024

• 1 May

  The Vacation From Reality Is Over

  

  Real-world living can be a hard, grinding affair, but sometimes some folks are granted what we might call a “holiday” from reality—a chance to escape from the cares of everyday living, brought on, perhaps, by a big raise, a winning lottery ticket, or a substantial inheritance from dearly departed Aunt …

April, 2024

• 1 April

  The CFPB Targets Mobile Wallets

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is at it again. If you develop or manage mobile-payment apps, you might want to pay attention. The agency’s proposed rules, aimed at so-called larger participants, may ensnare you, even if you’re only a fraction of the size of, say, Google or Apple. The agency …

March, 2024

• 1 March

  What’s in Apple’s Wallet?

  

  The answer to that question depends on a number of factors, some of them a bit complicated. In this issue’s cover story (see page 18), we come at the question guided by the thought that the Cupertino Colossus has certainly had some interesting approaches to the theory and practice of …

February, 2024

• 1 February

  20 Years And Counting. Thank You

  

  Welcome to a party. Digital Transactions is 20 years old, and with this issue we’re celebrating that milestone with a package of stories tracing the development over the years of 10 key topics in digital payments. You’ll find that piece on page 18. But first, we wanted to pause and …

January, 2024

• 1 January

  How Do You Define Success?

  

  You might think a fledgling payments network that launched in July with 35 participating financial institutions and within less than six months had multiplied that number nearly tenfold could be considered at least a tentative success. Granted, there’s a long way to go for the Federal Reserve’s FedNow real-time payments …

December, 2023

• 1 December

  Who Will Fill in for Visa And Mastercard?

  

  Ever since U.S. Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Roger Marshall of Kansas introduced the Credit Card Competition Act last year, we haven’t been surprised at the bipartisan support the legislation has received. After all, the bill promises to contain credit card acceptance costs for merchants, and to do it …

November, 2023

• 1 November

  Pricing By Fiat Is Not Ideal

  

  The jury is out—and will remain so for some time—on the Credit Card Competition Act and its chances of becoming the law of the land. One of the bill’s sponsors—and probably its prime mover—is Sen. Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and on the debit card side of the payments business, …

October, 2023

• 1 October

  Are They Coming for BNPL?

  

  The buy now, pay later craze, which took flight during the Covid pandemic, has turned into a $70-billion-plus segment of the payments industry. But that doesn’t mean the point-of-sale credit product hasn’t stirred controversy among acquiring-industry executives—mirroring, in fact, the diverging opinions held by business observers and regulators generally. We …

September, 2023

• 1 September

  Discover Makes a Mistake

  

  There are serious mistakes, and then there are the really serious mistakes you can’t recover from if you’re the top honcho. Discover Financial Services proved that last month with the departure of Roger Hochschild, who had been an executive at Discover for 25 years and chief executive for five. Discover …