Payments Daily · Tuesday, October 27, 2026Daily
PAY.NEWS
U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturns debit card fee cap
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Reserve should not include fixed costs unrelated to individual transactions when setting the debit card interchange fee cap, and overturned the current 21-cent fee cap. Canada plans to require stablecoin issuers to fully back tokens with high-quality liquid assets and prohibit them from providing returns to holders; a Google Cloud outage disrupted services at several banks in Western Europe for approximately six hours.
Cards & Issuing
U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturns the Federal Reserve’s 21-cent debit card interchange fee cap
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Reserve should not include fixed costs unrelated to individual transactions when setting the debit card transaction interchange fee cap, and overturned the current 21-cent fee cap. Current rules also include 0.05% of the transaction amount and a 1-cent anti-fraud adjustment, applicable to banks and financial institutions with deposit sizes of USD 10 billion or more; the Federal Reserve’s 2023 proposal to reduce the base fee to 14.4 cents has not advanced.
PYMNTSU.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds ruling overturning the Federal Reserve’s debit card interchange fee cap
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s ruling overturning the Federal Reserve’s debit card interchange fee cap and required the Federal Reserve to establish fee standards within the boundaries of the law. The dispute concerns the scope of costs that the Durbin Amendment permits to be included in interchange fees; merchant groups argue that the current fee allows banks to collect excessive charges, while credit unions maintain that debit transaction infrastructure, fraud monitoring, and network connectivity also require ongoing investment.
Regulation & Compliance
Canada’s draft stablecoin rules would prohibit returns and require issuers to hold reserves at banks
Canada published draft stablecoin rules in the Canada Gazette that would prohibit issuers from providing direct or indirect returns to holders and require non-bank issuers to hold reserves at banks. The draft also requires issuers to register, back tokens with high-quality liquid assets at a minimum one-to-one ratio, and redeem them at par value; a 60-day public consultation has begun, and Finance Canada expects the framework to take effect in 2027.
Payments Cards & MobileGoogle Cloud six-hour outage affects Western European banking services; UK and European regulators demand explanation
A power outage at a Google Cloud data center in the United Kingdom disrupted banking services in Western Europe for approximately six hours, affecting mobile banking, card payments, and cash withdrawals at institutions including Lloyds, HSBC, and Revolut.
Fintech News Middle EastZiina approved by the CBUAE to provide merchant acquiring and cross-border remittance services
Ziina obtained a CBUAE Retail Payment Services Category III license and was authorized to provide overseas remittances through its app and other digital channels. The license covers domestic fund transfers, merchant acquiring, payment aggregation, and merchant collection tools including payment links, QR payments, Tap to Pay, and online payment gateways.
Fintech News Hong KongHong Kong SFC approves 24/7 trading of tokenized public funds on licensed virtual asset trading platforms
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission approved secondary trading of tokenized public funds on licensed virtual asset trading platforms. Two authorized tokenized money market funds began 24/7 trading on October 26. The regulatory framework launched in April 2026 sets out requirements for trading operations, fair pricing, liquidity provision, and investor disclosures. The SFC will monitor trading activity and consider expanding the product scope based on market developments and experience.
Companies & Markets
HKMA — Press releases (繁體中文)First partyHong Kong Mortgage Corporation announces 2026 interim results; adjusted profit after tax rises to HK$1.083 billion
The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation announced its results for the first half of 2026, reporting unaudited consolidated profit after tax of HK$3 billion, up from HK$53.3 million in the first half of 2025. Excluding the results of HKMC Annuity Limited, the impact of property price movements on the reverse mortgage business, and consolidated financial accounting adjustments for the mortgage insurance program loan portfolio, adjusted profit after tax was HK$1.083 billion, with an annualized return on equity of 7.2%. During the same period, the company issued three Hong Kong dollar- and renminbi-denominated digital bonds totaling approximately HK$12 billion equivalent.