Law and Regulation

Instances of data compromise in the United States were down in the second quarter, but the good news pretty much ends there, according to information released early Wednesday by the Identity Theft Resource Center. Cybercriminals pulled off 732 total compromises online in the second quarter, a total that was down …

Merchants selling weapons like knives and collectible swords often have difficulty peddling them online, but Blue Payment Agency Inc. has launched a service to help do that while getting access to Shopify Inc.’s e-commerce platform. Announced Tuesday, the service from Windham, Maine-based Blue Payment Agency enables knife-selling Shopify merchants to …

The Electronic Payments Coalition’s attack this week against the Credit Card Competition Act calls out retailers Target Corp. and Walmart as greedy mega-corporate stores that stand to profit at the expense of consumers should the legislation pass. The aggressive tone of the EPC’s “high six-figure” campaign, unleashed this week, signals …

Under pressure from the European Commission, Apple Inc. agreed Thursday to open the contactless-payment technology in its iPhone for payments on wallets from outside developers. The agreement follows two years of investigation by the regulator, which has argued the exclusion of rival wallets from using the iPhone’s near-field communication chip …

A survey from credit-reporting agency TransUnion indicates 89% of U.S. consumers who have used buy now, pay later programs are satisfied or very satisfied with the service. The survey canvassed 1,200 consumers in the second quarter. Some 53% of non-users indicated they’d be likely or very likely to use BNPL if the …

Wireless and cybersecurity developer Berkeley Varitronics Systems Inc. launched Skim Swipe, a tool that can help detect card skimmers hidden in point-of-sale terminals. Galileo Financial Technologies, a payments-technology platform, announced it is offering wire-transfer capability via an application programming interface that links clients of Community Federal Savings Bank to the Federal Reserve’s …

Consumers may be well acquainted with the concept of overdraft protection when writing checks, but early Monday Discover Financial Services said it is extending the service to its debit cards. Cardholders who hold the company’s Cashback Debit Checking account are eligible for the new service, called Balance+. “With Balance+ we …

Cryptocurrency exchange and management provider Coinbase Inc. has won a $35.5-million contract to safeguard and trade digital assets on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service. The Service, a unit of the U.S. Department of Justice, is responsible for asset forfeitures arising from federal legal cases, including cases that involve recovery …

Decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court are supposed to settle matters, but a verdict the high court delivered early Monday has the potential to stir up debit card pricing questions for some time to come, some observers say. The justices, in a 6-3 decision, ruled a case brought by a …

In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt shut down financial institutions for a week, called a “bank holiday,” to restore calm after a run on banks. This comes to mind after a federal judge recently indicated she won’t approve a settlement between the major card brands and merchants over the fees that …