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NewsBriefs

This article contains excerpts from news stories recently posted under However, the Electronic Payments Coalition argued that
Breaking Industry News on our homepage. For links to these and other merchants' claims of being gouged by banks and card
full news stories, please visit www.greensheet.com/breakingnews. brands don't align with data, citing a minimal rise in in-
php. terchange rates over the past several years and significant
growth in some merchant sectors.
Out with plastic, in with paper gift cards

A shift from plastic to paper card products reflects a grow-
New Jersey caps credit card surcharges ing commitment to sustainable practices in the payment
card industry, according to Talbott Roche, CEO and presi-
New Jersey passed a law to prevent businesses from prof- dent of Blackhawk Network (BHN). BHN's new partner-
iting from surcharges on credit card payments, defining a ship with Visa is a step in this direction, with plans to
surcharge as any extra cost imposed on customers during transition prepaid products to compostable paper materi-
credit card transactions. This law applies across all sales als in the United States, Canada and Australia.
channels and mandates clear signage explaining the sur-
charge policy at points of entry and at the POS. The legis- Roche emphasized BHN's mission to lead this transition,
lation, influenced by CardX creator Jonathan Razi, aims to collaborating with influential brands like Visa to create
establish clear standards for offsetting credit card process- a more sustainable payment card market. Douglas Sabo,
ing costs while protecting consumers. chief sustainability officer at Visa, said the partnership
with BHN highlights their commitment to sustainable
Colorado's similar law caps surcharges at 2 percent or commerce. Both companies have been actively pursuing
the actual payment processing cost and includes disclo- environmental sustainability initiatives, with BHN pledg-
sure requirements. Such regulations are likely to become ing to convert most plastic products to paper by 2024, and
more common as surcharging gains popularity across the Visa having achieved carbon neutrality in 2020.
United States, following trends seen in Australia, which
introduced rules to ensure ethical surcharging practices. Bluefin study highlights PCI compliance concerns

It's a DORA world, EU regulators say The shift to PCI DSS 4.0 compliance is causing widespread
concern among organizations, driven by worries about
The European Union officially adopted the Digital Op- payment data security and the looming March 2025 dead-
erational Resilience Act (DORA), aimed at enhancing op- line, according to a survey commissioned by Bluefin and
erational efficiency in information and communications co-authored by S&P Global Market Intelligence's Jordan
technology (ICT) within the financial sector. DORA en- McKee and David Immerman. The study emphasized that
compasses extensive guidelines addressing ICT vulner- PCI DSS 4.0 necessitates a distinct approach to training
abilities in risk management, incident reporting, opera- and implementation; it also highlighted the challenge of
tional resilience testing and third-party risk monitoring. It balancing omnichannel commerce with security as pay-
mandates financial institutions to follow rules for protec- ment channels diversify.
tion, detection, containment, recovery and repair capabili-
ties against ICT-related incidents. Key findings include concerns about the significance of
PCI DSS 4.0 changes (93 percent), reliance on third-par-
Enforcement of all DORA guidelines is scheduled to begin ty vendors for compliance (86 percent), and openness to
on Jan. 17, 2025, with its binding nature applying across all deadline extensions (64 percent). Despite the difficulties,
EU Member States. DORA compliance involves complex 80 percent of respondents agreed that PCI DSS 4.0 is es-
and time-consuming processes, requiring validation of sential for industry and consumer improvement.
operational resilience achievements, policy and security
control assessments, alignment of third-party contracts,
and documentation of resilience capabilities. Also find us on Facebook,
Card brands take heat over planned rate hikes LinkedIn & Twitter for the
most up-to-date stories,
Merchants expressed concern about impending inter- can’t miss events and newest
change rate increases, which, according to an analysis by industry announcements.
CMSPI, could cost them an extra $502 million. Visa and
Mastercard traditionally adjust prices twice a year, and
this time, digital merchants may bear a substantial bur-
den, with new fees like Visa's digital enablement fee and
Mastercard's charge for declined subscription renewals.
Senators Durbin and Marshall have responded to rate https://www.facebook.com/TheGreenSheetInc
hikes by renewing their push for legislation designed to
encourage competition by allowing merchants to choose https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-green-sheet
processing networks. https://twitter.com/The_Green_Sheet
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