Google is throwing in the towel on Google Pay. The company released the news in a press release and a blog post stating that the challenger to Apple Wallet will no longer be available beginning June 4, 2024. Google will continue to support its wallet product, however, which Google says is far more popular than Google Pay.

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Congratulations are in order. Inc. unveiled its 2024 regional honorees on Feb. 27, 2024. The list included numerous payment companies among the fastest growing firms in the Pacific, Southwest, Rocky Mountain, Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.

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Becoming an authorized money service business (MSB) in all 50 states has been challenging, even for technology giants like X, formerly Twitter, which reportedly gained MSB licenses in Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, according to Adam Atlas, founder of Adam Atlas Attorneys at Law.

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Emboldened criminals are weaponizing AI, machine learning and advanced digital technologies to launch sweeping attacks on financial institutions, enterprises and civilians, according to new studies published Feb. 21, 2024, by Nexis Lexis Risk Solutions and SonicWall.

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As credit cards go, Discover is a bit of youngster. Discover Card was launched by Sears Roebucks & Co. subsidiary Dean Witter in 1986 and became the publicly traded Discover Financial Services in 2007. As large banks go, Capital One is a bit of a newcomer, too, created when Signet Financial spun off its credit card division in 1994.

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A new study published Feb. 15, 2024, by the International Federation of Robotics highlights human-like assistants in a variety of applications and use cases. The IFR's annual study, jointly prepared with Fraunhofer IPA, found 3.9 million robots deployed in 40 countries as demand for robotic-driven technology solutions continues to scale.

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Senator Richard Durbin, D-Ill., wants the CEOs of Mastercard and Visa to testify on Capitol Hill. No substitutions will be accepted. "I am writing you directly because I understand that your staff have declined my prior requests for you to testify at this hearing, and, instead, have offered to send Bill Sheedy, your senior advisor, in your place," Sen. Durbin wrote in a letter to Visa CEO Ryan McInerney.

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Payments analysts are debating whether the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), currently in force throughout the European Union, will impact North American regulators. Designed to strengthen IT security at banks, insurance companies and investment firms, the phased-in policies will become fully effective on Jan. 17, 2025, according to the three European supervisory authorities tasked with DORA oversight: the European Banking Authority; European Securities and Markets Authority and European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority.

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Merchants in New York have a new set of marching orders when it comes to surcharging payments made by credit card. Under a law that took effect on Feb. 11, 2024, businesses must disclose the total cost of a product, inclusive of any surcharge amount, before customers ever reach the checkout.

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Following last month's Senate Judiciary hearings with Discord, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and X executives, Capitol Hill remains laser focused on protecting children from harmful effects of social media. Policymakers have crafted bipartisan legislation over the past year to further address the issue.

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If the Federal Reserve Board follows through on its plan to slash allowable debit card interchange, card-issuing financial institutions aren't the only ones that will feel the pinch. Consumer costs will be high, too, upward of $2 billion if the plan gets finalized as proposed, according to a new white paper.

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Merchant acquirer report cards showed more red than blue this year, according to a new study by J.D. Power. Published Feb. 1, 2024, the report found that small and midsize merchants, the demographic surveyed for this research, expressed increased dissatisfaction with service providers.

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Battle lines are being drawn on Capitol Hill over the role of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in regulating the payments activities of big tech companies.

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