British finance leaders have once again raised the spending limit for contactless card payments following a public discussion with retail and banking leaders, according to Her Majesty's Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority.

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The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice want the Federal Reserve Board to take a tougher stance on ensuring merchants get to choose which networks are used to process their card-not-present debit transactions.

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Following our Aug. 25, 2021, breaking news story, "T-Mobile, AT&T security breaches put millions at risk," Dale S. Laszig penned the following View piece recounting her experience as a victim of the breach and what she learned from it as she took steps to reclaim her accounts and safeguard her digital identity and data:

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Security experts are warning consumers to change passwords and monitor financial accounts following reports of security breaches at T-Mobile and AT&T. The incidents highlight the need for advanced, multilayered protection against identity theft and account takeover (ATO) attacks, experts warn.

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Debit card usage in the United States didn't escape the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. That didn’t stop debit card usage from achieving some noteworthy results, however. While the number of debit card transactions fell in 2020, total debit spend increased as cardholders made fewer, but larger purchases. This is according to the 2021 Debit Issuer Study conducted by Oliver Wyman and published by PULSE.

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Payments industry enterprises are included in this year's 2021 Inc. 5000, Inc.'s annual homage to fast growing, privately held companies with U.S. headquarters. The honorees, disclosed Aug. 17, 2021, are especially impressive because they found a way to grow and scale their companies during a global pandemic, noted Scott Omelianuk, editor in chief at Inc.

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Magnetic stripe credit and debit cards are a 20th century innovation displaced by more modern, and safer ways to transact business. That’s the message from Mastercard, which disclosed plans to sunset use of the venerable mag stripe on cards bearing its logo. In a statement released on August 12, the payments giant said mag stripes will “start to disappear in 2024,” and, hopefully, be completely out of the picture by 2033.

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Payments industry and cybersecurity analysts are discussing a recent ransomware attack on Accenture, a multinational consulting and professional services firm with 569,000 employees and $44.33 billion in annual revenues in 2020. Disclosed Aug. 11, 2021, in a tweet by VX Underground, the attack was allegedly carried out by Lockbit 2.0, a ransomware group that exploited a known vulnerability within the company’s network, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

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Arkose Labs, an online fraud prevention technology provider, is offering customers a commercial guarantee against stuffing attacks. Unveiled Aug. 10, 2021, the Credential Stuffing Warranty covers up to $1 million of customer response expenses to pernicious attacks that use automation to test massive amounts of usernames and passwords, the company stated. Patrice Boffa, vice president of customer success at Arkose Labs, shared additional insights about the new service with The Green Sheet. Following are excerpts from his interview.

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As open banking capabilities power fintech innovation around the globe, a consumer survey published by API provider Axway on Aug. 10, 2021, shows half of U.S. citizens have neither heard of open banking nor understand its true potential. Also, while 81 percent of Americans surveyed believe their existing financial institutions can meet day-to-day needs, researchers found that 40 percent of respondents are already engaging in open banking activities by sharing banking credentials with third-party software providers.

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The global chip shortage is cascading through nearly every economic sector, including the companies that manufacture credit and debit cards, and to a lesser extent, those that manufacture the devices businesses use to accept card payments.

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Weeks after The Changing FinTech Landscape: A Snapshot of M&A Themes and Trends,was published, a record number of fintechs and financial institutions have entered into mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnerships, confirming analyst expectations of increased consolidation within banking and fintech sectors.

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An Aug. 4, 2021, decision by The U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, affirmed independent ATM deployers' right to fair and transparent surcharge pricing after a lengthy legal battle between parties represented by the National ATM Council Inc. and major card brands Visa and Mastercard.

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With final preparations underway for the 11th annual MPC Digital Commerce Event, the virtual show, set to run Aug. 17 to 19, 2021, is attracting registrants from numerous industries, countries and organizations, conference planners stated.

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The buy now pay later (BNPL) market is heating up. Last month, Visa Canada heralded a new partnership with Global Payments and Desjardins, a Quebec-based card issuer, to bring BNPL to eligible cardholders in the Canadian market. A U.S. rollout of the new service, known as Visa Installments, will soon follow, given recent comments by Visa executives.

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