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Mastercard's $900 million acquisition of British payment company VocaLink is under fire, as the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority contends the deal will give the card network an unfair advantage in ATM-related negotiations.

As payment apps that mix social media components gain momentum, industry experts are wary that law enforcement will place even more surveillance and policing roles on payment processors.

The bank formerly run by Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to head the Treasury Department, allegedly used illegal practices in foreclosing on delinquent homeowners, according to a leaked 2013 memo from the California Attorney General's Office.

Welcome to the new PaymentsSource Morning Briefing, delivered daily. The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: U.K. pressures Mastercard on VocaLink deal; Samsung plans new web refrigerators; Synaptics consolidates biometrics; voice command tech accelerates.

The current single-director leadership structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not a recipe for transparency and accountability. Creating a multimember commission to oversee the agency is the answer.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Bitcoin boost: While the Dow Jones Industrial Average struggles to reach the 20,000 mark, a different financial milestone was hit on New Year's Day. On Sunday bitcoin broke through the $1,000 mark for the first time, and kept climbing to $1,022 on Tuesday. The digital currency gained about 123% in value in 2016, due to global uncertainty and inflation fears. "The currency had faded from the public eye through early 2016 as prices stalled and traders battled about the structure of the approximately eight-year old market," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Now, with trading volumes rising sharply and some countries such as India making large cash payments more difficult, higher demand has pushed the bitcoin price up." Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post

China isn't living up to promises to open its card market, a shortcoming the incoming Trump administration should remember when forging trade policies.

By using some of the sales and performance analysis associated with e-commerce, Revel says the inherent advantage that stores have in connecting with consumers can be enhanced for the next generation of retail competition.

Directors today are expected to perform many duties that, even a decade ago, weren't part of the job, from overseeing cybersecurity and the bank's culture to setting online and mobile strategy. Yet the composition of many bank boards hasn't changed all that much. Here's what to do if you have longtime members who lack the skills needed to help a bank compete.

New digs, recognizing sports greats, big birthday celebrations and more are all part of this round-up of credit union community news.