As peak retail season approaches, retail analysts are predicting healthy sales figures based on improved consumer confidence and early shopping trends. Synchrony Financial's Annual Holiday Shopping Study, published Oct. 27, 2016, found more than half of survey respondents have begun their holiday shopping. The study, conducted by Norwalk, Conn.-based RTi Research between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3, 2016, surveyed 1,600 U.S. shoppers and combined their responses with historical data, macroeconomic factors and trends. The report found many consumers spend the entire year strategically planning for the holidays. Bart Schaller, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Synchrony Financial expressed hope that advance planning and overall confidence will translate into increased sales, adding, "caution overrides personal optimism, and shoppers tell us they're carefully planning, pacing and prioritizing their holiday purchases to stay on schedule and on budget."

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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency co-authored a new set of guidelines designed to protect critical banking infrastructure. Escalating cyberattacks combined with increasing dependence on connected technologies have raised threat levels across the banking sector, the agencies stated. Their recommendations, published Oct. 19, 2016, are detailed in Enhanced Cyber Risk Management Standards, an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) that addresses cyber risk, internal dependency and external dependency management, as well as incident response, cyber resilience and situational awareness.

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The contentious battle over credit card surcharges has escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court, giving hope to retailers in 10 states that currently ban the practice of adding a fee to credit card transactions. A court challenge brought by five retailers in Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman, 15-1391, made its way through New York courts, initially winning in September 2013, only to be overturned on appeal two years later by New York's 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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A global shipping crisis and other challenges have impeded ATM industry efforts to upgrade its U.S. fleet in accordance with mandated EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) guidelines. The industry’s attempts to delay EMV liability shift deadlines due to supply chain issues have been unsuccessful: October 2016 deadlines for Pulse and Shazam networks (Oct. 1) and Mastercard (Oct. 21) are now in effect. The Visa Inc. liability shift is set for Oct. 1, 2017.

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As the holiday shopping season approaches, several programs are underway to help small businesses end the year profitably. In advance of Small Business Saturday, which will be celebrated on Nov. 26, 2016, American Express Co. ramped up its support of the national retail campaign it founded in 2010 to promote independently owned businesses. Building upon past successes – 95 million consumers were reported to have flocked to small businesses last year on Small Business Saturday – AmEx created the Shop Small Studio, a new resource center that offers tools to create customized print and digital store campaigns.

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Payments industry stakeholders met the one-year anniversary of chip card implementation in the United States with a mixture of celebratory messages and class action lawsuits, revealing a fractured payments landscape. For example, on Sept. 29, 2016, Visa Inc. reported that counterfeit card fraud is down and EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) usage is up. However, on Sept. 30, 2016, a California Federal judge supported anti-trust proceedings concerning chargeback liability brought by a group of small retailers against Visa Inc., Mastercard, Discover Financial Services and American Express Co., denying the card brands' motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau adopted tough new rules for prepaid debit cards that are set to take hold in October 2017. The new rules apply specific federal consumer protections to mobile wallets, person-to-person payment products and other electronic accounts that store funds, as well as to general purpose prepaid debit cards.

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Capgemini and BNP Paribas published the World Payments Report 2016 Sept. 22, 2016. The 12th annual comprehensive global payments study found continued growth in noncash and electronic payment transactions. Authors James Methe of Capgemini and Jan Dirk van Beusekom of BNP Paribas attribute growth to a number of factors, including economic progress in key regions and rising costs of cash management.

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