This week's news roundup highlights three developments of note: the launch of an AI-powered marketplace for payment processing, Samsung's introduction of a smart ring for health and fitness tracking, and changes to Pret A Manger's popular coffee subscription service.

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Consumers really like being able to tap their mobile devices or cards to point-of-sale devices to make payments. Visa is reporting that 80 percent of in-person transactions globally, excluding the U.S., were done this way during its third fiscal quarter, which ended June 30, 2024.

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On July 19, 2024, a faulty update distributed by CrowdStrike, a leading American cybersecurity company, caused a catastrophic disruption in systems running Microsoft Windows. The incident, now regarded as the largest outage in information technology history, resulted in approximately 8.5 million systems crashing globally.

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The Consumer Bankers Association is pushing back against a recent Wall Street Journal article that seemed to suggest bankers are overreacting to a Federal Reserve proposal to slash allowable interchange on debit cards. The Fed last year proposed reducing the regulated cap on debit card interchange by about 30 percent, to 14.4 cents plus 0.04 percent (4 basis points) of the transaction amount, and 1.3 cents to cover fraud prevention costs. Currently, the cap is 21 cents and 0.05 percent (5 basis points) plus a penny to cover fraud costs.

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A group of lawmakers wants the Federal Reserve to do more to support faster payments. As it stands today it can sometimes take days for a payment can result in good funds for the recipient.

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The Midwest Acquirers Association is gearing up for its 22nd annual conference, set to take place next week, Wed. and Thurs., July 24 and 25, 2024, at the Chicago Marriott Magnificent Mile.

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Visa and Mastercard are not the only card brands that have squared off with merchants over pricing. Discover Financial Services just revealed a proposed $1.2 billion settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of merchants and acquirers who claim they were overcharged by the company.

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The Green Sheet recently had the opportunity to connect with Ruston Miles, who co-founded Bluefin in 2007 with the core belief that a brand’s value is ultimately tied to its ability to deliver a secure, yet frictionless, customer experience. In this interview, Miles shares his views on the benefits of working with multiple processors and drawbacks to relying on just one processor.

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Discover Bank is now offering its Cashback Debit customers more spending power. The company just launched fee-free overdraft protection on its debit cards. Called Balance+, the new feature is available for everyday debit card transactions made by Cashback Debit customers.

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Following the July 5, 2024, announcement of Labour's victory in the UK General Election, several fintech executives shared their insights on the implications for doing business in the UK. This significant political shift comes at a critical time for various industries, particularly fintech, which has been a burgeoning sector in the UK economy.

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Checks may not be dead, but soon there will be fewer places where consumers can write checks at the point of sale. The national retailer Target decided it will no longer accept personal checks from customers beginning July 15, 2024.

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In a recent interview, Mark Bunney, strategic marketing, director NAR for Ingenico, about a sharp acceleration in the adoption and usage of cashless transactions across the globe. Bunney shared perspectives on the contributing factors to this shift, its potential benefits and more.

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The U.S. Supreme Court gave the green light allowing a North Dakota merchant to sue the Federal Reserve over debit card interchange caps, even though the merchant did not open for business until the statute of limitations on such lawsuits had expired.

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A recent study by Empower revealed a concerning financial trend among Americans: 37 percent of the population is unable to cover an unexpected expense exceeding $400. This finding underscores a broader issue of financial instability, with nearly a quarter (21 percent) of Americans lacking any emergency savings at all.

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Pennsylvania is taking a page out of the Illinois tax book with a proposed new law that would ban interchange from being assessed on the tax portion of retail purchases. The new Illinois law, which will take effect July 1, 2025, is the first of its kind in the nation.

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