Will Durbin II rise again, bringing joy to merchants but grief to credit card issuers? Potentially, more than $10 billion could be in play if routing choice becomes law. Credit card issuers dodged a bullet in late 2022 with the failure of the Credit Card Competition Act to pass the …

U.S. retail sales in the Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 period, excluding automotive, grew 7.6% compared to the same time in 2021, according to Mastercard Inc.’s SpendingPulse, which tracks in-store and online sales. E-commerce sales alone were up 10.6%. The calculation took account of all forms of payment but was not …

It was only a matter of time before the two big international card networks responded to a recent Federal Reserve requirement that issuers make at least two unrelated networks available to merchants for debit card transactions. That time arrived at earnings season. During an earnings call with equity analysts in …

The real winners from the Fed’s latest debit card routing rule aren’t the merchants. And they certainly aren’t the banks. Guess who? In the last decade, the flow of funds across debit card networks has curiously become a concern of Congress and the Federal Reserve.  It all began with the …

Acquirers are trying to disentangle the many implications of the proposed Credit Card Competition Act. Some doubt the bill’s impact would be good. This road has been traveled before. This time, U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) wants to place restrictions on credit card practices, specifically transaction-routing practices. As Digital Transactions …

The payments business has moved on from the pandemic, but it faces a host of other issues. Here’s our annual catalog of the ones causing the most headaches. Welcome to Digital Transactions’ annual catalog of headaches—the problems, pitfalls, and perils facing the business of processing digital payments. We review these …

Mastercard Inc.’s top executives early Thursday underscored a strategy for the company involving a diversity of payment flows and new network opportunities such as open banking and cryptocurrency. At the same time, the company’s leadership made plain the company will compete for debit volume in the wake of a Federal …

It was only a matter of time before the two big international card networks responded to a recent Federal Reserve requirement that issuers make at least two unrelated networks available to merchants for debit card transactions. Late Tuesday, Visa Inc.’s chief financial officer, Vasant Prabhu, said the impact of the …

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a probe into whether security tokens issued by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. interfere with the ability of processors to route debit card transactions to alternative networks, according to The Wall Street Journal. Network choice for debit card transactions is mandated by the Durbin Amendment to the 2011 …

The Federal Reserve said late Monday it has completed work on a clarification that reinforces a more than decade-old requirement that issuers enable a choice of at least two competing networks for online debit card transactions. The release follows months of research and investigation by the Fed and will go …