Payments News Update – August 15, 2025
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT:
Payments Dive – August 13, 2025
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Early Warning Services, alleging that the bank-owned payments company allowed fraud on its Zelle network for several years, costing consumers more than $1 billion in losses.
The complaint, in New York state court, said that Zelle “has been teeming with fraudsters who have stolen staggering sums from consumers” since the banks began offering the Zelle payments system in 2017.
“This is nothing more than a copycat of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lawsuit that was dismissed in March,” a spokesperson for Early Warning said in an email Wednesday. “Despite the Attorney General’s assertions, they did not conduct an investigation of Zelle.” The spokesperson also reiterated that 99.95% of transactions on Zelle occur without any fraud or scam reports. . . .
Bloomberg – August 14, 2025 (subscription may be required)
Top fintech and crypto executives urged the Trump administration to block US banks from charging fees for access to customer data, levies that strike at the heart of their business models.
Klarna Group Plc, Robinhood Markets Inc. and crypto exchange Gemini were among a long list of companies, investors and lobbying groups that signed a letter sent Wednesday to President Donald Trump, arguing that the proposed fees would “cripple” innovation and “may cause small businesses and financial tools to shut down entirely.”
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has told fintechs and the data aggregators they rely on that the bank’s customer account information will no longer be accessible without a charge. . . .
Competition Policy International – August 13, 2025
The American Banking Association, the Bank Policy Institute and dozens of state banking groups are asking Congress for a do-over of the recently enacted GENIUS Act. In a letter to the chair and ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, the groups warned that several “loopholes” in the stablecoin law could lead to substantial outflows of deposits from traditional accounts.
“Payment stablecoins do not substitute for bank deposits, money market funds or investment products, and payment stablecoin issuers are not regulated, supervised or examined in the same way,” the letter said. “These distinctions are why payment stablecoins should not pay interest the way highly regulated and supervised banks do on deposits or offer yield as money market funds do.” . . .
Reuters – August 12, 2025
Financial companies from Bank of America to Fiserv are preparing to launch their own dollar-backed crypto tokens now that a new U.S. law has established the first-ever rules for stablecoins, but experts warn the path forward could be anything but simple.
U.S. President Donald Trump on July 18 signed the GENIUS Act into law, setting federal rules and guidelines for cryptocurrency tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar known as stablecoins. This U.S. law, the first designed to facilitate crypto usage, could pave the way for the digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money, experts said.
The use of stablecoins, designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 U.S. dollar peg, has exploded in recent years, notably among crypto traders moving funds to and from other tokens, such as bitcoin and ether. . . .
Law360 – August 5, 2025 (subscription required)
The Trump administration’s efforts to scale down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have resulted in a significant reduction of the agency’s federal consumer protection enforcement activity.
In an internal memo sent to CFPB employees in April, the bureau signaled its intention to “shift resources away from enforcement … that can be done by States.”
This change in direction has prompted calls for state regulators to pick up the slack and expand their consumer financial protection investigative and enforcement activity, and early signs suggest that some states, including New York and Massachusetts, are doing exactly that. . . .
Digital Transactions Magazine – August 1, 2025
The payments industry expected the new administration to bring with it a wave of deregulation, but the reality seems to be a little different from the expectation.
Under the leadership of Russell Vought, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has withdrawn 67 guidance documents since January. This includes eight policy statements, seven interpretive rules, 13 advisory opinions, and 39 other guidance documents. An overdraft-fee cap and digital-payments apps oversight rules were overturned by the Congressional Review Act.
The Bureau also tried to withdraw its open-banking rule, but it is currently facing a court fight with the Financial Technology Association over that. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT:
Payments Dive – August 13, 2025
Search behemoth Google is deepening its relationship with companies like Wise, Affirm and Klarna as it seeks to make a broader payments play.
The tech titan said this week that it will incorporate remittance services into its digital wallet and buy now, pay later options into the autofill function in its signature Chrome web browser in a bid to make paying easier for shoppers.
Google said in a blog post Tuesday that it will “soon” allow its Google Pay users to send cross-border payments through remittance providers like Ria Money Transfer, Xe and Wise. . . .
Digital Transactions News – August 13, 2025
Six months after issuing an API code to enable surcharging for online transactions, Chicago-based Yeeld released YeeldPay, its surcharging program for merchants.
Yeeld says YeeldPay is a no-code payment page that provides merchants across the United States with a compliant surcharging program that, because it uses the Yeeld Surcharging API, is continually updated with state regulations and card-brand rules.
Yeeld says it launched YeeldPay after hearing from merchants. . . .
Bloomberg – August 12, 2025 (subscription may be required)
For decades, Visa Inc. has stood at the center of global payments, with its network facilitating trillions of dollars in commerce each year. Now, as stablecoins rocket into the spotlight touting faster and cheaper alternatives to traditional platforms, the company faces a pivotal test: ensuring they enhance — not erode — its core business.
Enter Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto. Over the past year, Sheffield’s team has expanded the company’s stablecoin settlement business, partnered with a major bank on issuing its own tokens and inked deals with fintech firms globally.
Visa has been discussing stablecoin strategies with banking partners and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of launching a stablecoin of its own in the future, according to people familiar with the matter. . . .
The Wall Street Journal – August 11, 2025
Amid economic uncertainty, “buy now, pay later” has exploded among consumers.
Affirm and Afterpay speak to WSJ about the industry’s growth, risks and new opportunities. . . .
Digital Transactions Magazine – August 1, 2025
As fraudsters’ tactics grow more sophisticated, merchants must fight back with a combination of vigilance and better technology—including AI.
Chargebacks are currently the worst they have ever been for merchants. As Chargebacks911’s annual Cardholder Dispute Index shows, there was a staggering $65.21 billion in chargebacks last year in the U.S. alone, with an average of 5.7 claims per cardholder, each valued at $76.
This significantly impacts merchants’ costs when inflation is high and margins are tight, causing a vicious cycle of increasing prices, damaged customer relations, and more disputes. Variables like unrecognizable billing descriptors and convoluted return processes emerged as the key reasons for consumers to file disputes. However, Visa has suggested that up to 75% of all chargebacks are “friendly fraud,” meaning that there is a desperate need for merchants to fight back. . . .