On June 28, the European Commission proposed revisions to the EU's Payment Services Regulation and Payments Services Directive. Designed to help financial stakeholders adapt to digital transformation, the package seeks to leverage adjacent opportunities and mitigate risk, according to Malread McGuinness, commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union.

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Toast, the restaurant management software company that has been giving ISOs and their sales reps a lot of indigestion, is now raising the ire of restaurant owners, and their customers. That's because Toast just announced that those who place online orders of $10 or more with Toast clients will be charged an additional 99 cents – that's 99 cents over and above all other charges.

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Mastercard and Visa entered into an agreement with the Reserve Bank of Australia, that country's central bank and payment systems regulator, not to dissuade merchants from routing debit card transactions through alternative networks. The news out of the RBA follows a Federal Trade Commission order that Mastercard cease "illegal business tactics" that force merchants to route debit card payments through Mastercard.

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The Southeast Acquirers Association held its 22nd annual conference at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Fla., attracting over 1,300 payments professionals. The two-and-a-half day event featured education, training and networking with thought leaders, technology providers and legal and regulatory experts.

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We are posting this article by Bill M. Petti, associate attorney at Global Legal Law Firm, online today because time is of the essence for those who want to comment on the FTC's proposed amendment to the Negative Options Rule:

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Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is troubled by reports of widespread fraud and scams on Venmo and Cash App. And he's not alone. The Senate Banking Committee chairman, along with committee members Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wants the companies behind the two person-to-person payment apps to do more to protect users from scams and other fraud.

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Person-to-person payment apps may be popular, and convenient, but they are not necessarily safe. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is warning that funds left in nonbank payment apps, like PayPal, Venmo and Cash App, could be lost in the event of financial distress (think digital bank runs), since they are not covered by federal deposit insurance.

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Momentum is building in Washington for legislation that would dismantle what some call the Mastercard-Visa "duopoly" on credit card processing. The Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 is a rehash of legislation introduced in the last Congress by Senator Richard Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who authored the Durbin Amendment, which paved the way for debit interchange caps.

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The fintech sector is well positioned for continued growth, according to The Fintech State of the Union, published June 6, 2023. The survey of 5,004 consumers, 852 fintech vendors and 83 venture capitalists was commissioned by Discover Global Network and conducted in the first two quarters of 2023 by 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence.

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ATM manufacturer Diebold Nixdorf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after reaching an agreement with key financial stakeholders on a comprehensive debt restructuring plan, the company said in a press release. The Ohio firm filed the necessary paperwork with a bankruptcy court in Texas on June 2, 2023, and said a similar restructuring scheme would be filed by its Dutch subsidiary, Diebold Nixdorf Holdings B.V., in accordance with Dutch law.

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New studies by Verizon Business and NordLocker show fraudsters innovating at scale across financial and payments industry ecosystems. Chief among security expert concerns are the escalating costs and damage of ransomware attacks on public and private sector enterprises.

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Identity Everywhere was the theme of the 14th annual Identiverse conference, held May 30 to June 2, 2023, at the Las Vegas Aria Resort and Casino. An estimated 2,500 security professionals attended the four-day event, which featured education, networking and keynote presentations by identity community thought leaders.

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Merchants drowning in so-called friendly fraud have been thrown a life raft by Visa. An updated set of chargeback guidelines, which took effect April 15, 2023, makes it easier for card-not-present (CNP) merchants to successfully challenge chargeback claims that they believe are fraudulent.

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