Payments

Capital One Financial's proposed acquisition of Discover Financial Services would create a credit card behemoth with its own payments network. The deal is likely to draw tough regulatory scrutiny, though analysts say there are many compelling strategic reasons for the combination.

The median interest rate that large credit card issuers charged consumers with good credit in the first half of 2023 was 28.2%, compared with 18.15% at smaller banks and credit unions, according to a study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is on a campaign against excessive fees.

Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts asked Early Warning Services, which operates the payment platform Zelle, to clarify its reimbursement policy around impostor scams.

Ex-State Street exec joins Citizens Financial's board, payment software firm Toast will cut workers, Visa rolls out enhanced digital wallet tools and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

The bank is arguing in court with Viva founder Haris Karonis over whether it hindered the fintech's growth. The allegations strain a relationship that was already pressured by inflation and other economic factors.

Nearly a dozen states are looking to regulate digital payroll advance products, prompting a fintech trade group to ask the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to conduct a formal rulemaking.

Financially stressed consumers nearing their credit limit use buy now/pay later loans to finance smaller purchases, while wealthier households want to avoid paying interest or carrying a balance on credit cards for bigger-ticket items, according to the New York Fed.

The top five fintech and payments M&A deals had a combined dollar volume of more than $23 billion.

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, have added Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., as cosponsors to a bill aimed at increasing credit card competition and lowering consumer fees.

The major U.S. card networks are pursuing financial inclusion in Egypt, the Reserve Bank of India works to bring central bank digital currencies to more users, and other news in this week's global roundup.

New regulations involving cryptocurrency and the results of key elections will impact the industry's success this year.

Shared services organizations PSCU and Co-op Solutions are offering post-purchase buy now/pay later loans, with the goal of reaching consumers who are concerned about managing their credit.

Mastercard, Visa and American Express are reportedly preparing to add merchant codes to identify firearm purchases, forcing the networks to straddle a hot-button issue in an election year.

With countless fintechs nipping at its heels, the bank is working harder to be a one-stop shop for e-commerce, retail store management, payments and authentication.

French payments company Worldline may cut 8% of its workforce, Moneygram advances its digital strategy by hiring four new leaders, Fed issues enforcement action against Peoples-Marion Bancorp and more in our weekly banking news roundup.

The city's pilot program enables asylum seekers to pay for food and baby products — reducing government overhead while introducing newcomers to the local economy.

Through a partnership with technology firm ServiceNow, the card network is offering ways to reduce banks' cost and complexity of resolving disputed transactions.

Plaid named Cloudflare's Jen Taylor as its first president as the financial-technology company continues to diversify its products and readies itself for a public listing.

CEO Alex Chriss told analysts the company's AI-heavy product rollouts won't improve financial results in the near-term.

Virgin Money has cut about 150 jobs and 39 branches thus far in 2024, the Central Bank of Nepal has hired ACI Worldwide to build a payment switch to enable interoperable card payments for merchants, and more.