Law and Regulation

With potential regulation of credit card interchange looming and with the unwavering demand from merchants for lower card-acceptance costs, the possibility that interchange as it’s known today may dramatically change can’t be entirely dismissed—but don’t count on its demise. That was the conclusion at the Money 20/20 trade show this …

The Federal Reserve Board is set to revisit its longstanding limit on debit card interchange on Wednesday, and most observers expect the Fed to lower it. But ask Visa Inc. about the matter—as analysts did Tuesday afternoon during the network’s September-quarter earnings call—and its top executives outwardly at least profess …

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s oversight effort in data-sharing regulation is more than a year old, but with its newly proposed data-rights rule—released last week—the agency is making a substantial move in the field. Under the Personal Financial Data Rights rule, consumers would have the power to share data associated …

A day after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau floated a proposed data rights rule, reaction from the payments industry has been largely positive. The rule aims at governing the practice of sharing consumer data through open banking. The proposed rule would require financial institutions to share data at a consumer’s …

The top management at Discover Financial Inc. said early Thursday its issues with regulatory compliance and merchant overcharges continue to cast a shadow over the company but could be on the way to being solved. The problems, which included misclassification of merchants resulting in overcharges for card acceptance, came to …

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will consider revisions to its cap on debit card swipe fees at its meeting next Wednesday. The announcement was made as part of a public notice about the upcoming board meeting. While no further details were provided about the Fed’s intentions, retailers made it …

Nacha, the governing body for the automated clearing house network, reported the system processed 212 million same-day payments worth $608 billion in the September quarter, up 20% and 27.1%, respectively, over the same period last year. Total volume for all ACH payment types for the quarter came to 7.8 billion, …

Eric Cohen’s Commentary, “Whey the Credit Card Competition Act Falls Short,” posted here Oct. 9, makes three key claims about how the Credit Card Competition Act would supposedly harm small businesses and consumers. All of them are wrong.First, he says the bill would allow merchants “to choose their own network” …

Data compromises in the U.S. market for the first three quarters of 2023 totaled 2,116, a record high for the first nine months of a calendar year, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. The previous high was set in 2021, when 1,862 compromises were recorded over the first nine …

The Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) looks to be headed for a vote before the end of the year, spurred in part by Sen. Dick Durbin’s recent urging that it be brought to the Senate floor. While the Illinois Senator is of the mind it will help increase industrywide competition …