Law and Regulation

  With its enforcement action against Dwolla Inc., announced on Wednesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made plain it is expanding its writ to include data-security practices and putting digital-payments startups in its cross-hairs. The ripple effect could reach a number of payments providers if they are incautious about data …

A new Tennessee law governing merchants’ payment card contracts could create headaches for non-bank entities such as independent sales organizations and payment facilitators, merchant-acquiring industry sources say. The law will require processors on a monthly basis to list all fees assessed since the last statement. That’s certainly not unusual in …

As promised, the Electronic Transactions Association has updated its 2014 guidelines for merchant acquirers and independent sales organizations on merchant underwriting and monitoring. And more updates are likely as technology and regulators keep the pressure on merchant processors to stay ahead of risks to the payment system. “We really want …

By John Stewart Acting in response to comment from the industry, the PCI Security Standards Council has extended a key security deadline for payments processors, merchants, and banks by fully two years. These players now have until June 30, 2018, to stop using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and instead …

The conversion of U.S. mall and Main Street retailers to EMV chip card acceptance continues to lift VeriFone Systems Inc.’s North American revenues, but now the leading U.S.-based point-of-sale terminal maker and payment-services provider is getting ready for a rush of orders from petroleum marketers preparing to meet a key …

By Steve Norell I started in the acquiring industry approximately 20 years ago, and during those 20 years have seen and heard just about everything one can imagine about the way our products and services are marketed. That’s especially true when it comes to deceptive and fraudulent practices. During those …

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee on Tuesday afternoon was scheduled to consider a data-security bill that is drawing fire from merchant trade groups and consumer advocates, but which has the support of the American Bankers Association. H.R. 2205, the Data Security Act of 2015, was introduced last …

Attorneys for financial-institution plaintiffs suing Target Corp. to recoup their costs arising from Target’s massive 2013 data breach announced a $39.4 million settlement on Wednesday intended to bring their class-action lawsuit against the big-box retailer to an end. A U.S. District Court judge in St. Paul, Minn., was expected to …

Visa Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have settled a 2014 antitrust lawsuit the huge retailer filed against Visa that sought $5 billion in damages, Visa reported. Disclosure of the settlement comes in a brief passage in Visa’s annual report for fiscal 2015 ended Sept. 30, which Visa filed with the …

By Kevin Woodward The City Attorney for San Francisco has filed suit in California Superior Court against American Express Co., alleging the card brand continues to restrain merchants from steering consumers to other payment options. Filed Nov. 6, the suit seeks $2,500 per violation, which City Attorney Dennis J. Herrera …