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NewsBriefs

Following are excerpts from news stories recently posted under Breaking Installment lending: what's old is new again
Industry News on our home page. For links to these and other full
news stories, please visit www.greensheet.com/breakingnews. Installment lending is enjoying a renaissance, fueled in
php?flag=previous_breaking_news. part by consumer pushback over the high cost of making
purchases with credit cards. Visa and Mastercard are
angling to support these types of loans. So are Square
and a handful of other fintech firms. Affirm, founded by
PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, reportedly processed
more than $2 billion in POS installment loans for
customers of 128 stores and ecommerce sites in 2018. In
February 2019, Affirm partnered with Walmart to support
POS installment loans on purchases ranging from $150 to
$2,000 at nearly 4,000 Walmart Supercenters nationwide.

Big retailers want feds to curb
big tech, payment networks
Choice wins residual benefits
after costly battle with EMS The Retail Industry Leaders Association, a trade group
representing some of the nation’s largest retailers,
As a recent U.S. District Court ruling makes clear, including Walmart, wants the Federal Trade Commission
contract disputes between ISOs and sales channel to take a closer look at how big tech platforms, like Amazon,
partners can be lengthy and expensive, especially those Facebook and Google, influence consumer purchasing
involving termination for cause. At issue is a contractual behavior, and by extension, competition in retailing. In a
disagreement between Electronic Merchant Services and letter to the FTC, the RILA also pushed for government
Choice. Disputes can be traced to 2016, when the parties action to compel greater competition in credit and debit
renegotiated their agreement. At the time Choice, the card acquiring. Think in terms of interchange pricing and
plaintiff, sought, and EMS, the defendant, agreed to change honor-all-cards requirements.
their contract to allow Choice to sell for other processors.
For the past year the FTC has been on
a fact-finding mission into whether
changes in the economy, technology and
business practices demand adjustments
to competition and consumer protection
laws, as well as federal enforcement
priorities and policies. It wrapped
up a series of public hearings in June
2019, and has been soliciting written
comments from consumers, academics,
and retailing and technology firms.
Aite to award payments innovators

Aite Group LLC reported it will
formally recognize payments industry
innovators this year. Ceremonies will
include the August 2019 digital wallet
innovation awards and December
2019 Impact Innovation Awards for
Cash Management and Payments.
Representatives from the global research
and advisory firm said the events
will honor market leaders impacting
the future of commerce and banking.
The firm also stated it will celebrate
its recently launched Digital Wallet
Database by honoring digital wallet
providers that are changing traditional
commerce.

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