The Latest
-
X lands money licenses in Illinois, New Mexico
The social media platform is now nearly halfway to securing the state licenses needed to fulfill owner Elon Musk’s vision of a nationwide payments app.
-
Visa, Mastercard reach landmark credit card settlement
The two biggest U.S. card networks agreed to cap interchange fees for five years, among other terms, to settle merchant litigation that has lasted nearly two decades.
-
Private plaintiffs follow DOJ’s Apple antitrust case
The follow-on class actions are substantively similar to the federal government’s case, making them dependent on the agency’s lead in breaking the company’s smartphone stranglehold.
-
DOJ calls Apple card fees ‘significant expense’ for banks
The tech giant’s fees for credit card transactions “cut into funding for features and benefits that banks might otherwise offer smartphone users,” the Department of Justice said in suing the company earlier this month.
-
Capital One pledges to give Discover’s network a boost
Dominated by Visa and Mastercard, card network markets “sorely need an injection of competitive rivalry,” Capital One argued in its application to regulators to purchase Discover.
-
JPMorgan seeks embedded payments niches
The biggest U.S. bank aims to offer embedded payments software solutions in more industries for its corporate clients.
-
How Visa handled ‘BidenCash’ card fraud incident
The card network giant identified 556,000 card accounts that were put at risk as a result of the cybercrime ring BidenCash’s release of data online in December.
-
Crypto fraud losses rose to $3.9B in 2023, a 53% yoy increase: FBI
SEC enforcement actions against cryptocurrency players were up last year, but the commission is under attack for not issuing new rules for the industry.
-
Advocates urge transparency in Capital One-Discover review
More than 30 organizations demanded the deal not be subject to expedited federal review and that public hearings be held in the largest lending markets for both Capital One and Discover.
-
Wisconsin passes EWA law as states’ paths diverge
Wisconsin became the third state to pass a law requiring that earned wage access providers be licensed, and leaving the payments unregulated under lending laws.
-
Digital wallets to overtake debit cards in stores: report
Having already dominated e-commerce transactions, digital wallets are projected to overtake at least one traditional form of payment in stores, according a Thursday report by Worldpay.
-
ABA, U.S. Postal Services jointly combat check fraud
American Bankers Association and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are working together to educate postal and banking employees as well as consumers on the rising form of fraud.
-
Column
PayPal’s new CEO takes the Venmo challenge
PayPal has been striving for more than a decade to better connect Venmo to merchants and make it pay off. Now, a new CEO has inherited the challenge.
-
DOJ sues Apple over antitrust violations
The tech giant called the suit a threat to its identity and principles, vowing to "vigorously defend against it.”
-
Meta’s payment plays may pay off this year: report
A partnership between tech giants Meta and Amazon “could represent the tipping point of transforming social media into a transaction platform,” Mizuho Securities analysts said in a report this week.
-
Fed banks analyze consumer use of card promos
New research from the Philadelphia and Boston Feds finds that consumers are cycling through low APR credit card offers.
-
New Nacha rules strike at push-payment fraud
“With respect to transaction monitoring for fraud, it would no longer be acceptable to do nothing,” Nacha Executive Vice President Michael Herd said.
-
Clearing House’s ACH growth rate outstrips Fed
Automated payments volume processed by The Clearing House grew at a faster rate than at the Federal Reserve last year.
-
Mastercard extends tie to Alipay
The card giant said the expanded partnership will let the Chinese digital wallet company’s 1 billion users send payments to 180 markets.
-
Ballooning credit card balances loom over retail sales
The level of debt may surpass the all-time record this year, even when adjusted for inflation, some analysts say.
-
Nuvei forms committee to evaluate ‘strategic alternatives’
The Canadian payments company confirmed it’s in talks about a potential transaction with a third party, noting the committee will explore possibilities.
-
Afterpay extends reach beyond apparel
The Block-owned buy now, pay later provider said its expansion is a response to younger consumers looking for new tools to manage inflation.
-
Marqeta CFO touts EWA expansion
The card-issuing fintech has seen adoption of its debit card-linked EWA product increase as hourly workers at Walmart and Uber have been added, CFO Mike Milotich said.
-
Q&A
FreedomPay doubles down on gateway focus
The company, which provides point-of-sale payments and other technology services to merchants, isn’t interested in handling acquiring, said President Chris Kronenthal.
-
Fiserv searches for ‘tuck-in type’ deals
Despite a focus on smaller acquisition options, the processor doesn’t feel confined to a particular price range, CFO Bob Hau suggested Thursday.