Payments News Today: October 24, 2026

Payment processing news for October 24, 2026: the swipe fee settlement fight, Visa's AI invoice pilot, Mastercard stablecoin tools and what to do next.

Adrian ReyesSenior Payments & Fintech Editor

October 27, 2026 · 7 min read

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On this page 7 sections

Payment Processing News: The Swipe Fee Settlement Hearing Is Three Weeks Out
Visa Pilots AI Agents That Pay Supplier Invoices
Mastercard Stablecoin Security Scores Risk Before Funds Move
Fireblocks Denies a Reported $2.5 Billion Visa Deal
Ramp Applies for a National Trust Bank Charter
UK Regulator Moves to Loosen Apple's Grip on Contactless Payments
What to Do Before the Nov. 16 Hearing

Key takeaways

Whether the proposed 10-basis-point interchange cut reaches you depends on your processor pricing model, not on Visa or Mastercard. Check your statement before the Nov. 16 hearing.
The settlement's surcharging and honor-all-cards changes are proposed terms. They aren't current network rules, and state surcharging laws still apply.
B2B sellers with card-accepting supplier portals should review their acceptance policy now, because AI agents are starting to pay invoices under it.
Fireblocks denied the Visa deal only "at present time," so treat it as an open rumor and not as news.

The biggest payment processing news for October 24, 2026 is about law, not technology. Visa and Mastercard have asked a federal judge to give final approval to the swipe fee settlement. They told the court that Walmart and the big merchant trade groups are repeating arguments it has already rejected, and the approval hearing is set for Nov. 16.

Most of the rest of the week came out of Money20/20 in Las Vegas. Visa put AI agents to work paying supplier invoices, and Mastercard launched a fraud-scoring tool for stablecoin payments. Ramp applied for a federal trust bank charter, and Britain's competition regulator moved against Apple's control of contactless payments. Here is what each story means for a store, restaurant, grocer or online seller.

Payment Processing News: The Swipe Fee Settlement Hearing Is Three Weeks Out

In a joint reply filed Wednesday, Oct. 14, Visa and Mastercard argued that merchants trying to block the settlement are recycling arguments the court already considered and rejected, Payments Dive reported. The networks also said some objectors overestimate their chances at trial. They called Walmart and several large trade associations "no more than a vocal minority" in a class of more than 12 million merchants. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan, sitting in Brooklyn, plans to hold the final approval hearing on Nov. 16.

That "minority" is not small in absolute terms. The Merchants Payments Coalition said 978 businesses and associations filed objections, from small shops to restaurant groups, grocers, convenience stores and fuel retailers in every state.

If Judge Cogan approves it, the settlement would change the following, according to Payments Dive's coverage and the American Bar Association's summary of the November 2025 proposal:

Credit card interchange (the fee that goes to the card-issuing bank) would drop by 10 basis points, or 0.10 percentage point, for five years.
Rates on standard consumer credit cards would be capped at 1.25% for eight years.
All merchants could surcharge up to 3%, even if they also accept American Express. The prior settlement effectively limited those merchants to 1%.
Merchants would get more room to decline some categories of Visa and Mastercard cards instead of honoring every card the brand issues.

These are proposed settlement terms, not current Visa or Mastercard rules. The networks would have to change their rules, including the surcharging and honor-all-cards rules, only if the settlement gets final approval, and none of the changes applies until final judgment is entered. State law also still limits or bans surcharging in some places, so check your state's rules before you look at a surcharging program. Our earlier piece on what's at stake as the swipe fee settlement heads to final approval covers the objectors' arguments in detail.

What a 10-Basis-Point Cut Is Worth (Illustrative)

Take a grocery market that runs $60,000 a month in Visa and Mastercard credit card sales. This example assumes every one of those sales qualifies for the reduction. A 0.10% cut works out to $60 a month, or $720 a year.

Whether that $720 reaches the merchant depends on its pricing model, and the network doesn't decide that. On interchange-plus pricing, interchange passes through at cost, so a lower rate shows up on the statement automatically. On flat-rate or tiered pricing, the processor sets one bundled price and may keep the difference. That comes down to your processor contract, not a Visa or Mastercard rule. If you don't know which model you're on, find out before November. Work out your effective rate so you can tell later whether anything changed.

Visa Pilots AI Agents That Pay Supplier Invoices

On Oct. 20, Visa, BILL and Billtrust announced the first live pilot of trusted AI agents paying approved invoices through supplier portals. The payment starts with BILL's Payment Agent. It is registered through Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory, and it pays with tokenized card credentials within limits the buyer has set. On the supplier side, Billtrust's portal recognizes and authenticates the agent. Visa says this authentication can stand in for CAPTCHA and other bot blocking, so the agent doesn't need its own login. American Banker reported that Visa also added supplier-spend analytics and virtual-card fraud prevention tools the same week.

For B2B sellers that take card payments, the change is who presses "pay." Today, someone in the buyer's accounts payable team logs into your portal and types in a card number. In this pilot, software does it. Visa says Billtrust suppliers still receive these payments under their own acceptance policy. That makes the policy the thing to review now: which card types you take through the portal, any limits on invoice size, and whether commercial card costs at your ticket sizes make sense compared with ACH. If you only take B2B cards by keying them into a virtual terminal, nothing changes for you yet.

Mastercard Stablecoin Security Scores Risk Before Funds Move

Mastercard unveiled Stablecoin Security at Money20/20 USA on Monday, Oct. 19. The tool combines Mastercard's payment intelligence with blockchain analytics to flag fraud, scams and sanctions exposure, including before a payment goes on-chain. It is delivered through an API, aimed at cross-border and B2B payments, and launched with Borderless.xyz and Keyrails as the first partners. According to Mastercard's announcement, it is launching first in North America, with worldwide availability expected in 2027, partly through BVNK, the stablecoin infrastructure company Mastercard acquired in August 2026.

Banks and payment providers are the buyers here, not merchants. Merchants are affected indirectly. If you're looking at stablecoin acceptance through a provider, ask how it screens incoming payments for sanctions and fraud before settlement, and who absorbs the loss when a payment turns out to be tainted. A card chargeback has a defined dispute process. A stablecoin transfer usually doesn't, so screening done before the money moves is most of the protection you get. Our explainer on Visa and Mesh crypto spending at checkout covers the in-store version of this question.

Fireblocks Denies a Reported $2.5 Billion Visa Deal

American Banker reported rumors this week of a potential $2.5 billion Visa deal to acquire Fireblocks, a crypto infrastructure company. Visa told the publication it does not comment on rumors or speculation. The rumors started with an Axios report that the two companies were in late-stage talks. Fireblocks then told The Block the report was "news to us, and not true at present time."

Treat it as a denied rumor, not a deal, and notice the hedge in "at present time." The story still shows how hard both networks are pushing into digital assets and AI. American Banker presented this week's product launches as moves made ahead of the networks' quarterly earnings. For merchants, the earnings calls matter for a different reason: they show where network fees and new products are headed. We covered that in Visa earnings and the swipe fee bill.

Ramp Applies for a National Trust Bank Charter

Ramp, the corporate card and spend management company, applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter on Friday, Oct. 16, and announced it the following Monday. The proposed Ramp National Trust Bank would offer fiduciary investment management and digital-asset custody. Ramp said it would not take deposits or make commercial loans. The filing came a day after Ramp raised $1.85 billion at a $60 billion valuation.

Ramp isn't the only one. Payments Dive reports that Block, Avant and Modern Treasury have also sought OCC charters in the past two months, in part to get access to Federal Reserve accounts and payment rails. The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC on Oct. 2 over the recent run of trust charters. Nothing changes today for businesses using Ramp cards or bill pay. The longer-term question is whether the fintechs that issue your business cards and run your payables end up regulated directly by a federal agency, instead of working only through partner banks.

UK Regulator Moves to Loosen Apple's Grip on Contactless Payments

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority proposed that Apple lower its fees and remove technical barriers so rival wallets can compete with Apple Pay on the iPhone, according to Reuters as excerpted by Constantine LLP. The CMA said its proposals would lead to "substantially lower access fees." The measures are lighter than the European Union's 2024 remedies, which gave third-party wallet developers free access. Since those rules took effect, Vipps, PayPal, Klarna, Curve and BBVA have launched alternative payment apps, the CMA said.

The proposal applies only in the U.K., but the direction is clear: more wallets competing for the tap. At a U.S. counter, a phone wallet using NFC goes through the same EMV contactless reader as a tapped card, so you don't need a separate agreement for each new wallet. You do need contactless turned on and working on every lane. If you're unsure about your hardware, our guide to contactless payments for small business explains what to check. For a look at shoppers who still favor cards, see what Gen X card preferences mean for your checkout.

What to Do Before the Nov. 16 Hearing

Pull your latest processing statement and find out whether you're on interchange-plus, tiered or flat-rate pricing. If the settlement is approved, that answer decides whether the 10-basis-point cut reaches you. Then keep an eye on two events: the upcoming Visa and Mastercard earnings calls, and Judge Cogan's hearing on Nov. 16. If you want a second opinion on your current pricing, request a free quote and a MannyPay specialist will respond within one business day. Yesterday's roundup, Payments News Today: October 23, 2026, covers the stories that led up to this week. For the next update, see Payments News Today: October 26, 2026.

This roundup is general information, not legal advice. Confirm settlement and surcharging questions with a qualified professional.

Sources

About the author

Adrian Reyes

Adrian Reyes is Senior Payments & Fintech Editor for Beyond the Swipe, covering credit card processing, merchant accounts, payment technology and processing fees.

This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Card network rules and state laws change; confirm current requirements for your business.