The Green Sheet Online Edition
May 25, 2026 • 26:05:02
Letter from the editor
Few topics in payments generate as much persistent tension as interchange. While consumers increasingly expect fast, seamless and secure card payments, the financial ecosystem supporting those transactions remains locked in an ongoing struggle over who should bear the costs. In this issue’s lead article, we examine the expanding legal, legislative and regulatory battles surrounding interchange—from state-level efforts to ban fees on taxes and tips to long-running antitrust lawsuits and fresh challenges involving debit card caps. The debate has evolved far beyond simple complaints about “swipe fees,” exposing the complexity of modern payment economics and the competing priorities shaping the future of card acceptance.
Our contributors also examine several forces reshaping the future of payments. G+D's Brent Bowen describes how debit and credit cards are evolving beyond payment tools into trusted authentication devices. Fadl Mantash of Tribe Payments explains why financial institutions must treat resilience, redundancy and failure planning as core operational disciplines rather than optional safeguards. George Csahiouni of Tripoli Advisors offers an arresting look at why even highly successful ISOs can get passed over for capital—and what to do about it. Ram Palaniappan of EarnIn examines the role of pay timing in workers' financial stability, while Napa Payments and Consulting's Ken Musante explores how AI and human expertise together strengthen merchant monitoring and third-party oversight. Our current Street SmartsSM author, Jaki Kackert, also delves into AI, showing how ISOs and MLSs are using automation to scale marketing and merchant engagement more efficiently.
Our news briefs start off with the projected expansion of peer-to-peer lending as AI, blockchain and alternative finance gain momentum worldwide. Meanwhile, interchange disputes continue grinding through courts and legislatures, with Colorado legislators targeting fees on sales tax and merchant groups continuing to challenge Visa and Mastercard over fees tied to fuel purchases. In Washington, lawmakers are considering legislation that would expand exemptions from Durbin Amendment debit interchange caps for more community banks. We also look at the Federal Reserve’s deepening focus on payments fraud, as regulators, financial institutions and telecommunications providers move toward a coordinated public-private effort to combat increasingly sophisticated scams and organized criminal activity.
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