Law and Regulation

Japanese fintech PayPay Corp. is preparing a push into the United States through a partnership with Visa Inc. and an initial public offering. Through Visa, PayPay will develop new payment options for its mobile wallet beyond QR codes to broaden its wallet appeal to U.S. consumers. PayPay specializes in QR …

Hoot Host launched an expanded version of its software-with-a-service product for online businesses, including payments acceptance through PayPal, Square, and Stripe. The cryptocurrency exchange OKX, based in the Seychelles and with a regional headquarters in San Jose, Calif., received a Payment Institution license in Malta, a move that will allow the company …

Chip cards are coming to state benefit programs, with the latest development emerging from Alabama. The state’s Department of Human Resources is mailing electronic benefit cards embedded with chips as a means to combat fraud, according to an announcement early Friday from the chip card supplier, Conduent Inc. The chip …

Illinois merchants scored a big victory late Tuesday in their battle for interchange relief as United States District Court Judge Virginia Kendall upheld the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act. The decision, which comes after more than a year of legal wrangling, means the IFPA will go into effect July 1, …

Block Inc.’s Square point-of-sale unit announced the launch of SquareAI in the United Kingdom. The technology, which Square says is free to merchants, offers conversational AI intended to help business owners interpret their data and arrive at decisions faster. Payments provider Blue Payment Agency Inc. expanded its focus to help e-commerce sites, especially those …

Plans to attach an amended version of the Credit Card Competition Act to a cryptocurrency-infrastructure bill were shelved Thursday, effectively leaving two versions of the bill floating around Congress. The CCCA was amended late last week to include a provision that called for enforcement of the CCCA under antitrust law, …

Mastercard Inc. grew its fourth-quarter net revenue by double digits in the face of a market that has forced payments companies to wrestle with a slew of knotty considerations, including the potential impact of a major bill that would cap credit card rates and the dizzying effect of fast moves …

The Merchants Payments Coalition released a letter from it and 350 merchant groups in support of the Credit Card Competition Act urging that the bill be attached to a proposed cryptocurrency marketplace structure legislation. The measure is expected to be discussed Tuesday by the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. The New England Automated …

Equifax Inc. early Friday launched an application to identify synthetic identity fraud. The app, known as Synthetic Identity Risk, uses artificial intelligence to analyze identity data, credit histories, and behavioral signals to determine whether an account belongs to a synthetic identity. Synthetic identities, which criminals use to open credit card …