Payments News Update – June 27, 2025
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT:
Payments Dive – June 25, 2025
A federal judge in New York rejected Visa’s effort to dismiss the Justice Department’s 2024 lawsuit alleging that the card network operates an illegal monopoly in the debit card market.
Visa’s request amounts to “the premature resolution of factual issues” at an early stage in the complaint — filed in September by the Biden administration — U.S. District Judge John Koeltl ruled in an order released Tuesday, finding that the government’s allegations about Visa’s actions in the debit market were plausible.
Visa did not immediately respond Wednesday to an email seeking comment on Koeltl’s ruling. The company, which operates the largest U.S. card network, has previously denied the government’s allegations. . . .
Bloomberg Law – June 23, 2025
Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. gained final approval Monday of a $197.5 million settlement with consumers who accused the card companies of inflating fees at ATMs.
Judge Richard J. Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia approved the deal and awarded $49.4 million in attorneys’ fees, below the nearly $60 million—representing 30% of the overall total—that the plaintiffs’ attorneys sought.
The settlement puts an end to litigation stretching to when the card companies were sued in 2011—Visa and Mastercard were accused of making an illegal deal to raise and fix ATM fees at artificially high prices and restrain competition. . . .
Banking Dive – June 23, 2025
Attempts to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau within President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill run afoul of the Byrd Rule, which limits what can be included in reconciliation legislation.
Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled Thursday that a measure to defund the CFPB falls outside the limits of reconciliation, a legislative process that allows the Senate to pass bills with only a simple majority.
Measures to toss the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Office of Financial Research, as well as a measure to reduce Federal Reserve staff salaries, also fall outside the limits, MacDonough said. . . .
Law360 – June 20, 2025 (subscription required)
Apple Inc. has pushed back against a bid for class certification in a suit accusing it of unlawfully monopolizing the “tap and pay” mobile wallet market for its own devices by blocking competition, saying the bid does not offer common evidence to support the plaintiffs’ various claims.
Apple filed its opposition Wednesday, saying the lead plaintiffs’ motion for class certification should be rejected because they have not satisfied their burden of proving predominance.
According to the filing, the plaintiffs have not provided common evidence to support their single-brand aftermarket theory, which accuses Apple of monopolizing the aftermarket for tap-and-pay iOS mobile wallets through Apple Pay. . . .
Digital Transactions News – June 20, 2025
With rules governing stablecoins under development in the U.S. Congress, there are now at least 14 countries and regions worldwide that have established or are considering regulations for the digital currency.
The need for regulations in jurisdictions around the globe comes as stablecoins grow in awareness and usage and pose an attractive alternative to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, whose value can swing wildly from day to day. By contrast, stablecoins are so-called because their value is supported by underlying assets such as fiat money or Treasury bills.
Major providers, including crypto issuers and merchants, are also keen for such rules, as they can help overcome hesitation about usage and acceptance, observers say. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT:
The Wall Street Journal – June 24, 2025 (subscription may be required)
Stablecoins have a shot at being used in a lot of consumer payments. If they play their cards right.
Investors seem to be betting that stablecoins—digital tokens meant to represent a fixed amount of a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar—could rapidly disrupt how we pay for things. . . .
But before the market runs away with this trade, it is important to understand what drives the consumer-payments business—and just how hard it is to dislodge cards. . . .
PYMNTS – June 25, 2025
Mastercard said it is expanding its First Party Trust program to tackle “friendly” fraud.
Also known as first-party fraud, the term refers to genuine transactions that are challenged by cardholders, whether it’s deliberately or happens by mistake, Mastercard noted in a news release Wednesday (June 25).
“eCommerce has revolutionized the transaction experience while also increasing the need for transparency of payments for merchants, small business owners and entrepreneurs,” the release added. “It is now easier than ever for a customer to dispute a debit or credit card transaction they don’t recognize. The card issuer must then determine whether to provide that cardholder with a refund for the transaction amount — this is known as a chargeback.” . . .
Digital Transactions News – June 24, 2025
While fewer consumers reported identity crimes between April 2024 and March 2025 compared to the same time a year earlier, the number of consumers reporting multiple identity crimes increased, The Identity Theft Resource Center says.
In its annual industry report, the IRTC says reports of identity crimes declined 31% to 9,038 from the second quarter of 2024 through the first quarter of 2025, compared to a year earlier. But the fraction of consumers reporting multiple identity-related concerns to the ITRC rose to 24%, up from 15%.
The IRTC notes that the FBI and Federal Trade Commission are also reporting declines in identity crimes, which indicates the trend is widespread. . . .