Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter reversed the state's ban on credit card surcharging, overturning HB 1425, which was signed into law April 30, 2019, by Governor John Kevin Stitt. The legislation prohibited merchants from increasing transaction prices for buyers who pay with credit cards instead of cash. Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, had appealed the decision in a letter to the state attorney general. Brooks challenged the constitutionality of the surcharge ban, claiming it violates a merchant's right to free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
A Dec. 31, 2019 malware attack on Travelex reflects a new wave of advanced, automated attacks against financial infrastructure, experts warned shortly after the intrusion was disclosed. First reported by the Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch, the attack that forced the retail foreign exchange service to close its mobile app and worldwide network was initiated by a computer-borne virus. In a Jan. 2, 2020 TechCrunch article, Zach Whittaker reported the global outage is disrupting financial institutions, such as Tesco Bank, that rely on Travelex services.
Americans continue to ring up a growing share of purchases using credit and debit cards. New data published by the Federal Reserve reveals that growth in credit and debit card payments is outpacing growth in all other forms of noncash payments. U.S. shoppers made 174.2 billion noncash payments in 2018, an increase of 30.6 billion (or nearly 4.7 percent) over 2015, according to the 2019 Federal Reserve Payments Study. The combined value of "core" noncash payments (credit and debit cards, ACH and check payments) totaled $97.04 trillion, an increase of $10.25 trillion (or 8.47 percent) over 2015, the Fed said.
As payments and retail analysts predicted, omnichannel commerce played a major role in 2019 holiday spend, outperforming digital-only and in-store-only shopping. Trends such as buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) and purchases made in stores after returning ecommerce items, can blur the lines between physical and digital shopping, according to Phil Rist, executive vice president strategy at Prosper Insights & Analytics. "The growth in online retail sales is a tide that lifts everybody," Rist said.
Global demand for sustainable products and services was a key takeaway in a study published Jan. 10, 2020, by the IBM Business Institute for Business Value and the NRF. Nearly 19,000 shoppers from 28 countries and various age groups and backgrounds participated in the survey, which sought to identify emerging consumer and retail trends. Researchers found the survey revealed a new type of environmentally conscious consumer. 
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