July, 2024

• 1 July

  The Big Credit Card Settlement Appears Headed for a Trial. Who Will Win?

  

  With the judge in the massive credit card interchange litigation apparently insisting on a trial, a new and unsettling element of uncertainty now hangs over the nearly 20-year-old case, in which merchants allege anti-competitive behavior by the big credit card networks in setting interchange fees. The latest development emerged in …

June, 2024

• 1 June

  Payments 3.0: Time for Second Thoughts on Fintechs

  

  Sometimes the best advice is counterintuitive, which is why I think that payments executives need to slow down and get back to basics. When technology is adding new options and speeding everything up, it is easy to fall into a habit of being reactive as each new thing comes up. …
• 1 June

  Security Notes: Privacy for Sale

  

  The Biden administration dashes ahead with an interdepartmental effort to design a digital dollar, following the European Union and China, which are very excited about the tight surveillance power given to government through the emerging technology of digital money. The U.S. effort, which was kicked off by a presidential executive …
• 1 June

  The Fed Touches Off the Latest Interchange Battle

  

  The National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition have lined up against the Federal Reserve, arguing that while a rate reduction on debit card transactions is welcome, the Fed’s proposed pricing does not go far enough. The two industry trade groups sent letters to the Fed last month on …

May, 2024

• 1 May

  Behind a Card Industry Group’s Strategy to Stop the CCCA

  

  A trade group representing card networks and issuers is taking aim at restaurant surcharges and price increases by large grocers as part of its efforts to defeat the Credit Card Competition Act. The Electronic Payments Coalition earlier this spring fired its first salvo in its new campaign against the CCCA. …
• 1 May

  Security Notes: AI, Privacy, and the End of Credit Cards—Again

  

  The initial penetration was slow. The original Diner’s Club credit card of 1949 was too different to quickly catch on. But it had a compelling message, as the historic burden of trusting the customer was shifted away from the merchant, a service for which the merchant was willing to pay. …
• 1 May

  Payments 3.0: A Judge’s Common Sense Vs. Regulatory Overreach

  

  The saga of PayPal versus the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau entered a new chapter early this spring when PayPal won a favorable ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On March 29, Judge Richard Leon ordered that the Bureau not require PayPal to provide the short-form …

April, 2024

• 1 April

  Security Notes: The Coming Shift in Payments Authentication

  

  For many restaurants, interchange fees are the third expense category after food and labor. Issuers pull some savvy tricks in the form of rewards cards, which consumers are drawn to and merchants can’t reject, though they face higher fees to carry the burden of the rewards. For quite a few …
• 1 April

  Payments 3.0: Risk And Opportunity for Cap One And Discover

  

  The planned acquisition of Discover Financial Services by Capital One Financial Corp. will reshape the competitive landscape for consumer deposit accounts in the United States. Digital Transactions reported earlier that Capital One has already announced its intention to move its entire debit portfolio to the Discover Network once the deal …
• 1 April

  An Active Year Helps Boost Results for Canada’s Nuvei

  

  The big Montreal-based processor Nuvei Corp. has had a busy year since its headline acquisition early in 2023 of Atlanta-based Paya Holdings Inc., and last month things got even busier. The Montreal-based company confirmed it had created a “special committee” of independent directors to review “expressions of interest” regarding offers …