Law and Regulation

Facing criticism for withholding as much as 30% of some small merchants’ payment volume, merchant processor and business software provider Square Inc. on Tuesday posted an explanation of its new reserve policy. “Out of our millions of sellers, fewer than 0.3% have reserves on their accounts, but given increased interest, …

One of the most aggressive—and worrisome—central bank digital currency models is a proposal from law professors Morgan Ricks and John Crawford and lawyer and former regulator Lev Menand that the Fed provide direct banking “FedAccounts” to consumers and businesses. It’s intended to improve payments efficiency and reduce the number of …

ATM manufacturer Diebold Nixdorf Inc. extended its agreement with consulting firm Accenture plc to streamline its operations by making business processes digital and moving them to the cloud. Diebold Nixdorf says the pact could yield $50 million in savings through 2023.The Federal Reserve released its FraudClassifier model, an effort to bring consistency to the …

Merchants in the United Kingdom won an important battle against interchange fees on Wednesday but it remains uncertain just how much that will mean to them in terms of remuneration from Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. The case also could have ramifications for similar action in the U.S. market, some …

American Express Co. has become the first foreign payments company to be approved to clear domestic transactions in mainland China. The move comes with approval of a network clearing license over the weekend from the People’s Bank of China for Express Technology Services Co. Ltd., an AmEx joint venture with …

JotForm, a developer of online forms for businesses, announced an integration with the PayPal Commerce Platform allowing clients to accept credit card payments, transfers between PayPal accounts, and PayPal Credit financing options.Corporate-payments software provider Coupa Software Inc. said it has acquired Bellin Group, a vendor of treasury-management technology. Terms were not announced.With the popularity …

E-commerce sales in Signifyd’s Covid-19 Weekly Pulse Report for E-Commerce dipped 8% for the week of June 2-8 compared to the prior seven-day period. With non-essential retail opening in many states, e-commerce sales may be settling into a new natural level, the report said.Retail sales in the CardFlight Small Business Impact Report for the …

With chargeback costs poised to grow an estimated 52% by 2023 for U.S. payment card issuers alone, issuers as well as merchants and merchant acquirers have every incentive to reduce those costs. And one way they could do it is by providing more transaction detail on consumers’ online credit card …

Varo Money Inc., a 5-year-old mobile-banking and payments startup that’s closing in on a national banking charter, raised $241 million in a Series D round that closed Tuesday. The round, co-led by Gallatin Point Capital and The Rise Fund, will help the San Francisco-based Varo expand its financial-product offerings and …

The Federal Trade Commission this week announced a settlement with an independent sales organization that processed $80 million in payments for “My Online Business Education,” or MOBE, a business-coaching and investment opportunity the FTC deemed fraudulent and shut down in 2018. Under an order and permanent injunction in U.S. District Court …