Law and Regulation

More than 4.1 billion apps to enable consumers to verify their identity online are projected to be in use globally by 2027, up 82% from 2.3 billion this year, according to Juniper Research. Use of government-backed digital identities that replace physical-identity documents as a source of verification for third-party apps, …

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The move follows a federal appeals court decision in October that ruled the way the CFPB is funded is unconstitutional because it is not controlled by Congress. Financial marketplace LendingTree launched a Visa credit card in partnership …

Instances of card skimming were up in the United States in 2022, with more than 161,000 impacted cards identified, a five-fold increase over 2021, and a more than three-fold increase in the total number of cards compromised, according to FICO (formerly Fair Isaac Co.). In addition, 3,000 unique financial institutions …

Early Warning Services LLC, operator of the Zelle peer-to-peer payments network, is celebrating a year just passed in which both dollar volume and transactions processed rose at double-digit rates. But the company also has its eye on promising markets like small businesses and on countering charges from U.S. Senators about …

Zelle, the peer-to-peer payment network operated by Early Warning Services LLC, reported Thursday that consumers and businesses sent 2.3 billion in payments totaling $629 billion through the network in 2022. On a year-over-year basis, transaction volumes through Zelle increased 26%, and total transaction value increased 28%. Small businesses continue to be …

Industry opinions are mixed regarding a move by banking trade groups to plead for more time to act on a ruling issued in October by the Federal Reserve. The ruling orders all banks to comply by July 1 with an 11-year-old requirement that merchants have a choice of at least …

Georgia has joined a small but growing number of states that have introduced legislation to ban the portion of credit and debit card transaction fees that apply to sales tax. The Georgia bill, introduced late last week by Georgia state senator Billy Hickman (R-Statesboro), proposes prohibiting the fees from being …

A bill designed to allow merchants to have a choice of networks for routing credit card transactions failed to pass last year, but now international tensions could affect the proposed law’s prospects in the new Congress. The bill, called the Credit Card Competition Act, would mandate that merchants have a …

Seeking to improve merchant adoption of PINless debit transactions, the U.S. Payments Forum Monday released a white paper detailing the potential obstacles to PINless debit implementation in the United States and how they can be overcome. One advantage of PINless debit transactions is that they can be processed faster than PIN-based debit transactions, …

Observers have warned that an activist Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is likely to act on multiple fronts that involve the payments industry. Early Wednesday it released its latest proposal, a move to cut the $12 billion it estimates consumers pay annually in credit card late fees. While the proposal could …