October, 2021

• 1 October

  Debit Card Pricing at Full Boil

  

  Ten years on, the Fed is mulling changes to its interpretation of the Durbin Amendment’s debit-routing rules. It’s not likely to make anyone happy. Of the many consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, perhaps the biggest one for the payments business is how it has thrown into stark relief the long-festering …

September, 2021

• 1 September

  The Key to the Future of Financial Services

  

  Here’s why the collection and sharing of data is in a second—and far better—phase. In today’s interconnected world, consumers want to be able to access information when, where, and how they want. Financial information is no exception. Given its nature and importance, however, the sharing of financial data comes with …

September, 2020

• 1 September

  Fast Thinking for Faster Payments

  

  For financial institu­tions of all sizes, real-time transfers are likely to be a competitive necessity. But small banks must work out how to balance operational headaches with potential advantages. It has been generally acknowledged that real-time payments can provide some significant benefits to financial institutions. But for smaller FIs, they …

March, 2020

• 1 March

  Routing Rumble

  

  The Federal Trade Commission once again is looking into debit card transaction routing, and the focus is mostly on online payments. Here we go again: federal regulators are probing the seemingly arcane issue of how debit card transactions are routed. Anybody care for some caffeine? Abstruse as it may seem, …

February, 2020

• 1 February

  The Case That Won’t End

  

  A push by big retailers to have certain payment-network rules scuttled in court is keeping one of the biggest cases in the history of the payments business alive. What will happen now? If you thought the massive—and massively complex—payments litigation known officially as In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and …

January, 2020

• 1 January

  Can You Deliver on Instant Payouts?

  

  Across multiple industries, workers and consumers are increasingly looking for right-now funding. Businesses that want to thrive will have to meet that expectation. In a world where instant gratification is king, Freddie Mercury’s famous lyrics have never rung truer: “I want it all, I want it all, I want it …

December, 2019

• 1 December

  Merchants’ Double Whammy

  

  Merchants have been skirmishing with networks and issuers over acceptance costs since the days of cardboard cards. As 2020 approaches, interchange rates are stable, but merchants are seeing more sales on high-cost rewards cards while paying more network fees. Not so long ago, if you wanted to get a card-accepting …

October, 2019

• 1 October

  How Libra Is a Spark for Blockchain Technology

  

  It faces formidable challenges, but Facebook’s cryptocurrency initiative has the potential to rewire the underpinnings of the entire payments system. Libra, a new stablecoin powered by blockchain technology from Facebook, is a bold, forward-thinking concept and a potential game-changer for blockchain and the payments realm. While it remains to be …

September, 2019

• 3 September

  The New Reality in Real-Time Payments

  

  Now that the Fed’s so-called public option is no longer a matter of speculation, the race is on to dominate a crucial payments market. But in real-time transactions, will the race go to the swift? After 10 months of playing it coy, the Federal Reserve early last month finally jumped …

July, 2019

• 1 July

  2020 Vision

  

  Will the U.S. payments industry reach its goal of ubiquitous real-time payment capability by 2020? In part, the answer may depend on how “ubiquitous” is defined. When the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force wrapped up its work in July 2017, it set what seemed to be a challenging but …