Industry News

American Express has entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and has agreed to pay more than $138 million for engaging in sales practices that provided inaccurate tax advice to customers and potential customers of Amex for two wire products, Payroll Rewards and Premium Wire. Separately, Amex has entered a civil settlement with the Department of Justice’s Civil Division Fraud Section related to the tax-avoidance scheme. Acting Attorney Judy Philips said that American Express had misled their customers by touting tax breaks that simply didn’t exist.

Synchrony, the largest issuer of private label credit cards in the US, has teamed with Pet Paradise to finance pet care with Synchrony's existing CareCredit health and wellness credit card. Pet Paradise has 60 locations in the US where services range from dog training to extended boarding stays and day camp.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has reached a settlement with Equifax Information Services for inaccurately reporting tens of thousands of New Yorkers’ credit scores to lenders between March and April 2022. Due to a coding error, Equifax falsely lowered consumers’ credit scores, leading lenders and insurers to price some of their loans and policies higher than they would have otherwise. Equifax will pay $725,000 and implement more safeguards to prevent future errors that raise costs for consumers.

ISX Financial, a fintech that provides financial services to merchants across the EEA & UK, has launched a debit card in partnership with Diners Club International. The card carries the brand of ISX's pan-European and UK digital payment app, Flykk. Users get Diners Club benefits including access to 1,500+ airport lounges, travel insurance, and purchase protection. The card is now available to users in selected markets in the EU, with plans to expand to additional markets in the coming months.

Two industry groups have filed lawsuits seeking to block the Biden administration’s rule to ban medical debt from appearing on consumers’ credit reports. They are the Consumer Data Industry Association, which represents credit bureaus such as TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, and ACA International, which represents debt collectors. The rule, which ends the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports and prevents lenders from using certain medical information in loan decisions, was finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau a week ago. It is expected to remove an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of about 15 million consumers, which would likely raise credit scores and make it easier for some people to obtain mortgages.

Mastercard has expanded its operations in West Africa with the opening of its first office in Accra, Ghana. In 2023, Ghana had a GDP per capita of $2,238. Growth sectors include agriculture, mining and digital infrastructure. Mastercard has also formed partnerships with financial institutions like Access Bank and Fidelity Bank to enhance cross-border payments.

FreedomPay, a technology provider for ecommerce, has partnered with Mastercard, to create a global payment gateway for businesses to connect with acquirers worldwide. FreedomPay has a presence in North America, Europe and Latin America. By joining with Mastercard it can provide access to 230+ acquirers and acceptance of a range of local and global payment methods.

Shift4 Payments has agreed to a payment of $750,000 to settle with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement follows an SEC investigation that found Shift4 Payments did not adequately disclose certain financial practices and accounting techniques that may have misrepresented its financial health. The investigation came about after a significant drop in Shift4's stock price and the resignation of its CFO.

Ixopay, providers of a platform for enterprise payment orchestration, has partnered with Riskified to enhance payment security. Riskified is a provider of AI-powered fraud and risk data. The joint aim is to increase sales conversion by reducing false declines and to minimize fraud chargebacks by enhancing security.

Nium, a provider of real-time cross-border payments, has launched a Diners Club International Card to allow travel customers using its B2B virtual card to pay airlines and travel suppliers. The Diners Club card, available internationally, will also enhance Nium's closed-loop Airline Payments offering.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finalized a rule that will remove an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of about 15 million Americans. The action will ban the inclusion of medical bills on credit reports used by lenders and prohibit lenders from using medical information in their lending decisions.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has sued Experian, the nationwide consumer reporting agency, for unlawfully failing to properly investigate consumer disputes, saying that the company conducted sham investigations rather than properly reviewing the disputes as required by federal law. The CFPB further states that Experian uses faulty intake procedures for disputes, and does not accurately convey all relevant information to the original furnisher. Instead, "Experian routinely and uncritically accepts the original furnisher’s response to the disputed information, even when that response was improbable or illogical on its face, or when Experian has other information available that suggests the furnisher is unreliable."

Paysafe, a global payments platform, has received approval from the Central Bank of Brazil for a payment institution license involving the country’s launch of its regulated online sports-betting and gambling market. The license allows Paysafe to expand its payment partnerships with iGaming operators in Brazil, also to support Brazilian merchants in a range of other industries with eCommerce payments.

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CorServ, a payments provider to banks and fintechs, has partnered with Tradition Capital Bank to launch a credit card for commercial, small business, nonprofit, and consumer clients. Tradition Capital Bank is a $2.6-billion commercial-focused bank. Through CorServ's Account Issuer Program, the bank will be able to offer virtual cards, ghost cards, comprehensive spend controls, and self-service administration.

Companjon, a fintech specializing in dynamic embedded insurance, will provide issuing clients of Visa with the opportunity to provide customers with purchase protection from inclement or inconvenient weather. The specific details of Weather Protection coverage ranging from outdoor activities to hotel bookings can be tailored to the unique needs of the financial institution’s customers in the majority of markets across Europe. Companjon will serve as the technology provider, underwriter, and risk carrier.

Shazam, a provider of financial services to community banks and credit unions in the US, has launched Dispute Partner Plus to help clients debit card disputes and related regulatory requirements. The product provides full visibility of documents and claims throughout the dispute process, while also automating Regulation E record keeping. Accountholders can contact their local financial institution or Shazam directly. Cardholder communication occurs throughout the claim process

PayPal has been sued by an Asian American businesswoman who accused the digital payments company of racial bias for restricting part of a $535-million investment program to only Black and Hispanic applicants. The litigation was filed by Nisha Desai and her venture capital firm, Andav Capital. Desai's firm announced in June 2020 that it would support Black and minority-owned businesses and help address economic inequality. Desai said she spent 1-1/2 months seeking funding before PayPal stopped communicating, even as the company invested $100 million in 19 venture capital firms led by Blacks and Hispanics. She also said that PayPal has told multiple other businesswomen they were ineligible for funding because of their Asian descent.

In a case brought by the Illinois Bankers Association against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, the court has scheduled a conference for Jan. 15, 2025. The case concerns a ban enacted by the state of Illinois on June 7, 2024 against banks, payment card networks, and other entities charging or receiving “interchange fees” in Illinois on the portion of a transaction attributable to taxes or gratuities. The Illinois Bankers Association claims that the ban, called the Illinois Interchange Prohibition Act (IFPA), is preempted by the National Bank Act (NBA), Home Owners’ Loan Act (HOLA), Federal Credit Union Act (FCUA), and Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA). Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois partially granted ABA’s motion for a preliminary injunction, saying that ABA would likely succeed on the merits of its NBA preemption claims.

Atlantic Merchant Services, a subsidiary of Payroc, is partnering with First Bank to provide First Bank's clients with payment services including POS systems, contactless payment options and business analytics tools.

PXP Financial, a merchant acquiring platform that provides fraud prevention, data analytics, and reporting, has launched Compelling Evidence 3.0 and Order Insight in collaboration with DisputeHelp, a provider of chargeback and fraud mitigation services. The partnership will allow PXP to integrate Visa’s OI & CE3.0 framework, which addresses issues like first-party fraud, refund fraud, and goods-lost-in-transit fraud.

Qi Card, an Iraqi fintech, has partnered with Singapore-based Ant International to release an app called SuperQi. The app, which is powered by Alipay+ Wallet Tech solutions, is available in Arabic, English and Kurdish. It handles scan-to-pay, money transfers, bill payments, loans, installments, mobile recharge, shopping, travel, and other payment options.

iWallet, a San Francisco-based startup providing payment services, has introduced Voice AI as an alternative to IVR (Interactive Voice Response) technology and DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency) signals. Voice AI is a PCI-compliant AI-based system for telephone orders designed to mitigate fraud risks associated with manual input.

Klarna, a provider of AI-powered BNPL and shopping assistance, has expanded its partnership with Woo to make Klarna a default payment option for merchants using WooPayments. Woo is a provider of open-source ecommerce services built on WordPress.

Mastercard has completed its acquisition of Recorded Future, which will add AI-driven threat intelligence capabilities to Mastercard services related to cybersecurity, identity and real-time fraud scoring.

UnionPay International has collaborated with Weixin Pay, allowing users of UnionPay-powered wallets to scan payment codes in the Chinese mainland. Eight wallets are now able to offer this feature — BoC from Bank of China, Octopus, PayMe by HSBC, Tap & Go, Bangkok Bank Mobile Banking, K Plus in Thailand, Naver Pay in South Korea, and ICBC Mobile Banking in Malaysia.