Law and Regulation

The Federal Reserve seeks to work closely with private-sector instant-payment services and plans to carve out a regulatory role to govern developments in stablecoins, a top official at the Fed said Friday. The remarks come in the wake of the Fed’s launch in July of its FedNow real-time payments network. …

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late Thursday released a report raising questions about the part restrictions imposed by big technology firms like Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc’s Google subsidiary may play in hampering innovation, consumer choice, and the growth of open and decentralized banking and payments in the U.S. The …

According to Juniper Research, 360 million people worldwide used Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) in 2022. With such an expansive consumer base, BNPL has also become an effective tool for merchants to attract new customers and increase conversion rates. However, the widespread use of BNPL has raised concerns regarding transparency …

Monthly global ransomware attacks hit an all-time high in March, totaling 460. That’s a 62% increase from the same period a year earlier, and a 91% increase from the prior month, according to the fall edition of Visa Inc.’s 2023 Biannual Threats Report. Leading causes for ransomware attacks are criminals …

With the Securities and Exchange Commission mandating public companies victimized by a cyberbreach publicly disclose the breach, businesses need to be more diligent in keeping out cybercriminals, as disclosure of such information can subject them to greater scrutiny and potential liability. The rule, which the SEC passed in July, requires …

The buy now, pay later craze, which took flight during the Covid pandemic, has turned into a $70-billion-plus segment of the payments industry. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t stirred controversy among acquiring-industry executives, some of whom manage versions of the point-of-sale credit product. That clash of viewpoints emerged Wednesday …

New Jersey has implemented a law that prohibits merchants in the state from profiting from credit card surcharging and requires merchants to clearly disclose any surcharges to consumers. The law, which was passed by the New Jersey legislature in June and went into effect immediately upon New Jersey Governor Phil …

Feedzai, a U.S. fraud-detection and -prevention company, will offer its services in Latin America through a partnership with Dock, a payments provider specializing in services for that region. TreviPay, a U.S.-based business-to-business payments provider operating in 32 countries, introduced a service to support cases where buyers ask to be invoiced …

Discover Financial Inc.’s top brass early Thursday stressed that the company’s top priorities are regulatory compliance, customer experience, and long-term growth. The declaration, from temporary chief executive John Owen, was meant to reassure equity analysts and came in the wake of merchant-overcharge and banking-compliance issues that led up to the …

John Owen, a retired banker and member of Discover Financial Services Inc.’s board of directors, has been appointed interim chief executive and president, replacing Roger Hochschild, who resigned Monday after five years running the company. Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover announced Hochschild’s departure following the card network’s disclosure in an earnings call …