Payments News Update – August 22, 2025
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT:
Payments Dive – August 21, 2025
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau posed several questions Thursday about open banking, including who may represent consumers and who should cover the costs incurred in sharing data with fintechs that seek to supplant banks in providing financial services.
The bureau filed notice that its queries will be published Friday in the Federal Register, starting a 60-day comment period in which banks, fintechs and others are likely to seek to shape the bureau’s open banking rule.
Last month, the agency obtained a stay in federal court litigation over the rule brought by banks after it told the court it would begin work to revise the rule on an expedited basis. . . .
Law360 – August 20, 2025 (subscription required)
A New York federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Visa cannot enforce a $5.54 billion settlement in long-running multidistrict antitrust litigation against a class of Visa debit [plaintiffs] in a separate, similar suit, finding that the deal does not cover their claims, and therefore the claims can’t be released.
U.S. District Judge Margot K. Brodie of the Eastern District of New York issued a memorandum and order saying the class in In Re: Visa Debit Card Antitrust Litigation cannot be held to the terms of the settlement agreement reached in the current action, which accused Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees.
The $5.54 billion settlement stems from claims launched nearly two decades ago, alleging that Visa, Mastercard and several banks, including Bank of America, Barclays and JPMorgan Chase, maintained a series of network rules that enabled them to charge merchants higher transaction fees than the retailers would have tolerated in a competitive market. . . .
Cointelegraph – August 19, 2025
The Wyoming Stable Token Commission, a body authorized by the US state to issue a stablecoin, announced the mainnet launch of the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) stablecoin.
The FRNT stablecoin is a fully-collateralized digital token backed by short-duration US Treasury bills and US dollars, with a statutorily mandated 102% reserve requirement, the commission said in an announcement on Tuesday.
According to CryptoAmerica host Eleanor Terrett, the FRNT is now live on seven blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Polygon, Optimism and Base. . . .
Banking Dive – August 18, 2025
The Federal Reserve Board nixed a program Friday that it created in 2023 to police banks’ fintech and cryptocurrency activities.
The move aligns with regulators’ about-face on crypto and the Trump administration’s support of artificial intelligence, which has become almost synonymous with bank and fintech innovation moves.
“Since the Board started its program to supervise certain crypto and fintech activities in banks, the Board has strengthened its understanding of those activities, related risks, and bank risk management practices,” the Fed said Friday. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT:
PYMNTS– August 2025
Consumers are constantly adjusting how they shop and pay as innovative financial products and technological advancements create fresh ways for money to flow from pocketbook to merchant. Likewise, the payments industry is undergoing a little-noticed change in how millions of shoppers complete their purchases.
While much attention has focused on the rise of buy now, pay later (BNPL), a quieter trend is emerging: Some shoppers are increasingly using their private label credit cards from individual retailers and merchants and general-purpose credit cards to pay in installments over a predefined time frame. . . .
This report, based on 8,250 complete responses to a survey of adult consumers in the United States conducted March 25, 2025, to May 22, 2025, delves into the story behind this ascendant phenomenon by examining its key drivers, offering strategic insights for card issuers, BNPL providers, merchants, marketplaces and the consumer credit industry. . . .
Forbes – August 20, 2025 (subscription may be required)
RTP (Real-Time Payments) and FedNow, the two immediate payment platforms in the United States, recently reported Q2 2025 results showing impressive growth in number of transactions and the value transmitted through each system.
RTP which was launched in 2017 through The Clearing House (TCH), reported 1.18 million payments each day with a total daily value of $481 billion in payments, a 195% leap in value from the previous quarter.
FedNow, created by the Federal Reserve, went live in July 2023. Its quarterly volume grew 62% to 2.1 million payments with an average daily value of $2.7 billion, up more than 400% over the previous year. . . .
The New York Times – August 17, 2025 (subscription may be required)
It’s getting harder to be a travel hacker. For years, savvy consumers found ways to squeeze every last drop of value out of travel credit cards and loyalty programs run by banks and airlines.
But the companies have become increasingly sophisticated about closing loopholes and limiting certain perks. The latest changes to some travel cards include much higher annual fees and more coupon-like benefits that points-and-miles experts say will make it harder to easily score big deals or unlock access to business class seats and other premium services.
“We are at some kind of inflection point,” said Clint Henderson, a managing partner at the Points Guy, a website devoted to helping people make the most of cards and loyalty programs. “It’s getting harder and harder for consumers to win. That’s true of the credit cards, that’s true of elite status, that’s true of loyalty.” . . .
The Wall Street Journal – August 16, 2025 (subscription may be required)
Americans are starting to pull back from a pandemic-era credit-card binge.
After a surge in credit-card spending that pushed Americans’ card balances above $1 trillion, growth is now moderating. Credit-card spending has been growing more slowly than debit-card spending since late last year, the first such stretch in nearly four years, according to the latest spending data from Visa and Mastercard.
Credit-card originations had soared during the recent period of high inflation. That allowed Americans to keep spending on discretionary items even after money ran out from pandemic stimulus payments. . . .