Visa and Mastercard face fresh legal pressure over card fees | PaymentsSource

Merchants scored a small victory in the long legal battles involving card payment fees as a U.K. agency ruled Visa and Mastercard fees violate European competition laws.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal, which hears antitrust cases, issued the ruling as part of a broader class action U.K. suit between merchants and the card brands. The tribunal’s ruling is not the final say in the dispute — more hearings are scheduled for later this year, and Visa and Mastercard both plan to appeal the tribunal’s ruling.

 “Mastercard strongly disagrees with last week’s deeply flawed decision, and will seek permission to appeal. Interchange plays a vital role in supporting the UK payments ecosystem. It funds innovation and ensures people and businesses continue to pay and get paid quickly, easily and securely,” Mastercard said in an email. Visa did not respond to a request for comment. 

Visa and Mastercard are also involved in a similar U.S. legal case over card fees. An October date for the U.S. trial this week was delayed to early 2026 with the court saying the case was not likely to be finished before the yearend holidays.

 Visa and Mastercard have been fighting with merchants over payment fees for at least 20 years through a series of court cases, lawsuits and appeals, in the U.S. and other countries. 

In the U.S., a major settlement was temporarily reached in 2024, with Visa and Mastercard agreeing to lower interchange, which determines the fees merchants pay for card transactions. But a U.S. federal judge rejected that settlement, sending the litigants back to the drawing board. 

Bloomberg Creative Photos/Bloomberg Creative

NCR Atleos boosts cardless cash ATM network

Addressing a trend toward consumers using mobile wallets more than plastic cards, NCR Atleos has collaborated with InComm Payments to support consumers to use a code delivered through their mobile banking app to make withdrawals.

InComm, which sells payment technology, will use NCR Atleos’ ReadyCode to power the cardless transactions. NCR Atleos has deployed ReadyCode in more than 40 states including the 70 largest metropolitan areas.

NCR Atleos is the ATM-focused company that was created in 2022 when NCR split its business; NCR Voyix sells digital commerce technology. Atleos has focused on partnerships and digital features to add scale in a shrinking U.S. ATM industry.

The number of ATMs in the U.S. fell below 450,000 in 2024, according to the Capital One Shopping Research Report. Capital One, which also notes the number of American consumers who use only cash fell 30% from 2022 to 2024 and 58% from 2016 to 2022.

At the same time, ATM companies like NCR Atleos and Diebold Nixdorf have used the higher-tech ATMs to offset the decline in branches by offering many of the services of a traditional branch. 

CaixaBank expands payments tech for corporate users

Spain-based CaixaBank has added Tap to Pay for iPhone, enabling businesses to accept contactless payments without added hardware.

Merchant employees can use their own iPhones as a portable point of sale, an improvement that cuts the cost for attachments such as dongles that support iPhone payments. The bank, which is an early adopter of Tap to Pay, envisions restaurants and small businesses that perform remote work, such as landscaping, plumbers and other repairs.

 Also called “softPOS,” Tap to Pay technology from Apple and Google has gained ground  globally, attracting legacy payment processors and payment technology firms that are using the technology to sell a mix of mobile and brick-and-mortar payments to a wider range of merchants.

Barclays cuts off credit card crypto purchases

Citing a lack of consumer protection and high risk, Barclays will reject all cryptocurrency purchases made with credit cards.

 The bank said the sudden decline in cryptocurrency prices could add to borrowers’ debt, hurting their ability to pay back the borrowed funds. Barclays also noted cryptocurrency is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman and Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which are the U.K. equivalents of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protection.

The Financial Conduct Authority has additionally proposed a series of new regulations on cryptocurrency, including potential restrictions on using credit to invest in crypto. 

Worldline’s ‘dirty payments’ allegations spark probe

European media reports that Worldline processed risky payments that funded sites engaged in money laundering, porn, dating and other controversial areas of commerce has landed the French payment company in hot water with European regulators.

The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s office is probing alleged money laundering at Worldline’s Belgian unit. 

Several European publications have published articles contending Worldline has improperly vetted consumers. One article, a Der Spiegel investigation called “Dirty Payments,” claimed Worldline’s German unit Payone ignored warnings about money laundering. 

In an email, Worldline said it acknowledges the initiation of a money-laundering investigation by the Brussels prosecutor following recent articles. “Worldline will cooperate with the authorities.”

Worldline also issued a press release confirming the allegations, which date to 2023. The payment company said it has strengthened its merchant risk framework, including ending relationships with non-compliant high-risk merchants. Worldline’s stock which trades in Paris, has declined about 20% over the past five days and 29% during the past month.

Africa gets a new card network

A joint venture including African Export-Import Bank, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System and Mercury Payment Services have launched Pappscard, an attempt to offer a local payment network.

Other participants in the venture include Bank of Kigali and I&M Bank Rwanda; and Rswitch, Rwanda’s national payment rail. 

African central banks and payment systems will drive an effort to gain adoption of the new card, which is designed to boost intra-Africa trade and general financial inclusion. 

The consortium said most African card payments use global systems, causing fees to go to outside parties and reducing data control. 

“For too long, Africa’s reliance on external payment systems has impeded trade, increased costs, and compromised control over our financial data,” Benedict Oramah, chairman of the African Export-Import Bank, said in a release. Pappscard could be a rival to Visa and Mastercard, which have invested billions of dollars in Africa over the past few years.

Mastercard uses gen AI to bolster card security

Mastercard has deployed Account Intelligence Reissuance, a fraud-prevention service that uses generative AI to spot accounts that have been compromised, then reissues cards before fraud occurs. 

Card issuers already deploy this strategy, but by adding gen AI, the card network contends much of the manual labor and time can be avoided — thus spotting more potential fraud faster and with fewer false-positives. Gen AI, which is designed to produce original content, can scour existing card details and other data to produce full card numbers. Full account numbers are often missing for stolen cards. 

The new service launched in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with deployments in Asia-Pacific, North America and Latin America later this year. 

Mastercard earlier added gen AI to its security technology mix, with an earlier deployment focusing on detecting compromised cards that are stolen through spyware, malware, card skimming or other methods. Visa has also added new gen AI tools that are also designed to combat card attacks. 

Lisa Maree Williams/Bloomberg

Australia adopts check fraud protections

Australian banks have jointly deployed a national “Confirmation of Payee” program, which addresses scams in which crooks dupe consumers into sending them money.

The program matches the name, account number and other details of a recipient with account details stored on file at their bank account. This match is necessary before a digital or check payment can be processed.  

Similar protective measures are in place in the U.K. and parts of Europe. In the U.S., the American Bankers Association in June launched a tool that enables banks to verify checks on payee information. This is designed to address Treasury checks, which are more prone to fraud than digital bank transfers. 

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