[Note: The Green Sheet offices will be closed until Tues., Jan. 2, 2024. Till then, we hope you enjoy this story and have a safe, happy time bringing in the New Year.] People born around the turn of the century may not realize this, but there was a time when checks were really popular—at one point in the 1990s, it was estimated Americans were writing about 40 billion checks a year.

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Google can no longer restrict app developers from using third-party payment processors. This is under terms of an agreement resolving allegations the tech giant violated the antitrust laws of 53 states and territories through various practices, including some involving payments to developers.

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[Note: The Green Sheet offices will be closed from Dec. 22 through Dec. 26, 2023. Have a splendid holiday.] A liquor store owner in Illinois is leading a class-action assault on Mastercard, Visa and Apple, alleging the three companies are violating federal anti-trust laws by working in cahoots to fend off potential competitors that could offer lower-cost alternatives to credit and debit card acceptance.

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A new report by the Mobey Forum predicts that by 2026, 15 percent of European finance will be embedded, and U.S. embedded finance, which currently accounts for $2.6 trillion and 10 percent of GDP, will rise to $7 trillion that year. Published Dec. 18, 2023, Embedded Finance: Transforming The Banking Value Chain examines how integrated financial services are boosting profitability and enhancing the customer experience.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau isn't the only entity in Washington that wants to reign in big technology firms that have ventured into payments. A new bipartisan bill in the Senate would ban nonbank financial entities from operating like banks, and benefiting from federal deposit insurance, without first passing muster with the Federal Reserve.

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What's in your wallet? For small business owners the answer may depend on the rewards. According to the just-released J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Small Business Credit Card Satisfaction Study, rewards programs are the largest contributor to small business customer satisfaction with credit card products.

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Elon Musk wants to position X (the social media platform once known as Twitter) at the center of Americans' financial lives. Musk, who co-founded PayPal—which was purchased by eBay and eventually spun off into an independent company—isn't interested in building another payments platform.

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Alternative pricing arrangements that shift some or all of payment processing fees from merchants to their customers could come under fire from the Biden Administration's campaign against junk fees.

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Digital identity verification (IDV) drives security and convenience for consumers and merchants, but experts have noted that IDV standards vary by region. eIDAS, for example, is widely used in Europe, W3C is popular in Australia and mDL is the go-to standard for Google and Apple apps. These incompatibilities pose a dilemma for businesses that cannot positively identify a customer, and must choose between declining a transaction and potentially losing revenue or accepting a transaction from an unverified buyer and risking potential identity fraud.

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Financial technology firms have been ramping up lending to a group of consumers that traditionally have gotten short shrift from traditional financial services providers, like banks. A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York revealed the explosive growth in fintech lending to low- and moderate-income consumers. But it also cautions that rising delinquencies could test the mettle of borrowers and lenders alike.

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In August 2019, Apple and the Goldman Sachs announced a "groundbreaking" new credit card that would "revolutionize" the credit card experience. Last week, Apple called it quits, and according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, the two will phase out the partnership over the next 12 to 15 months.

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As recently reported under Breaking News, Verizon Business and Mastercard embarked on multiple initiatives designed to leverage Verizon’s 5G connectivity and Mastercard’s global network (see Verizon Business, Mastercard expand SMB offerings ). Tony Lutz, global financial practice leader at Verizon Business, shared with The Green Sheet additional details about how these initiatives are powering connected commerce. Following are interview highlights.

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