by Matt Rej
From new fees to rate increases, leadership changes, acquisitions, new products, court rulings, and legislation, June was a busy month in the payments space. Here’s my recap of the biggest stories you should be following:
Shift4 Announced a New Annual Fee
Shift is introducing a new Annual Service and Maintenance fee that will be billed to merchant accounts in August. The fee itself varies by account, and so far, we’ve seen the fee notices ranging from $1,500 to $2,000.
The new fee consolidates Shif4’s Annual Program Fee and Regulatory Assurance Fee into one charge.
Despite the consolidation, the new Annual Service and Maintenance Fee is more expensive than those two fees combined. So this is a fee change and Shift4 rate increase bundled all into one.
If you were already charged a Shift4 annual fee so far in 2026 and you’re being impacted by the new consolidated fee, you shouldn’t have to pay full value as Shift4 would be double-dipping. So keep an eye on your statements in August, and reach out to our team if you have any questions regarding those charges.
Global Payments Increased its Infrastructure Upgrade Free
Global Payments increased its Infrastructure Upgrade Fee for the third consecutive year, to $499 annually, effective June 2026.
It’s also the third rate increase from Global Payments that we’ve seen so far in the first half of this year, which is on brand with their pricing strategy.
Fiserv CEO Steps Down
Fiserv’s CEO, Mike Lyons, stepped down on June 15, 2026 after just 13 months on the job.
Lyons accepted a new position as CEO of Truist Financial. And Fisev announced that Takis Georgakopoulos would fill his shoes.
This leadership change is definitely something merchants using Fiserv should be paying attention to. It comes amidst rough financial times at Fiserv, and Georgakopoulos will be under immense pressure to deliver results. This scenario almost always trickles down to merchant statements.
Adyen Makes its Second Acquisition of the Year
On June 11, Adyen announced its plans to acquire Orb for $335 million. This comes less than two months after the $876 million acquisition of Talon.One.
This is big news because Adyen hasn’t historically made large acquisitions like this, especially compared to other processors of this size.
They’re spending over $1 billion on two companies that are both clearly part of its VAS strategy.
Both deals are set to close on July 1, 2026.
Judge Grants Preliminary Approval of Revised Visa Mastercard Settlement
The revisions to Visa and Mastercard’s latest settlement agreement cleared a major hurdle when US District Judge Brian Cogan granted preliminary approval on June 9th.
Under the new proposal, Visa and Mastercard would be required to lower interchange rates by an average of 10 basis points over five years on US credit cards.
Standard US credit cards would be capped at 1.25% in interchange fees.
It’s still far from a done deal. And we’ll continue monitoring this as it progresses through the courts. In the meantime, you can read more about the Visa/Mastercard settlement update here.
Square Offers New 3.50% High Yield Savings Account for Merchants
Sellers on Square with a minimum $10,000 daily balance will now automatically get 3.50% APY on their Square Savings account.
There’s no action or application required for merchants to receive this benefit.
Checkout.com Selected by Microsoft as Payments Partner
Microsoft chose Checkout.com to power digital payments across its EMEA operations, including payments for Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, and Xbox.
The partnership gives Microsoft access to Checkout.com’s acquiring services and AI-powered optimization engine, which routes transactions in real time to reduce failures while improving authorization rates.
Shopware Launches Native Payments Solution Powered by PayPal
Shopware, an open-source ecommerce platform, just launched its new Shopware Payments solution that was built on top of PayPal’s infrastructure.
Shopware Payments gives merchants access to digital wallets, BNPL options, cars, and PayPal’s full suite of payment experiences directly within the Shopware environment.
This initial rollout is limited to just Austria and Germany. But there are plans to expand to the US and EU.
Adyen Launches Agentic Tools for Enterprise Merchants
Adyen unveiled Adyen Agentic this month, which is a suite of tools designed to help enterprise merchants sell through AI-powered conversational platforms.
The core problem it’s addressing is that every agentic commerce platform operates on different protocols, requires different data formats, and has unique checkout requirements. But Adyen’s pitch here is that a single integration will translate across everything, so merchants don’t have to rebuild whenever a new AI commerce solution comes out.
Some of the early ecosystem partners include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Salesforce.
Nacha’s New Fraud Rules Now Fully in Effect
Nacha’s new ACH fraud monitoring rules were fully implemented on June 22nd. This completed a two-phase rollout that began back in March.
The rules require all parties in an ACH transaction (originators, third-party senders, and receiving institutions) to proactively monitor for fraud rather than wait until a fraudulent transaction is detected.
For the first time, receiving institutions now have a defined role in the process and have the ability to delay funds availability or return suspicious transactions without having to wait for a fraud claim.
Nuvei to Acquire Payoneer
Canadian-based payment process Nuvei announced its plans to acquire Payoneer for $2.75 billion.
The result will create a significantly larger cross-border commerce, as the combined entity would support payment acceptance, fund distribution, card issuing, treasury management, and FX services in 150+ markets.
This deal is expected to close by mid-2027.
House Lawmakers Debate Expanding Fed Payment Access to Fintechs
The proposed PACE Act had its moment in the House Financial Services Committee on June 25th. This bill would create a federal registration pathway to allow non-bank fintechs access to the Fed’s payment rails, without needing money transmitter licenses in every state.
This would include access to FedNow, FedACH, and FedWire.
Stripe testified to support the bill, saying that the current state-by-state framework creates unnecessary friction for small businesses. While banks pushed back arguing that the bill undercuts regulatory oversight and introduces more risk.
The bill is still far from becoming a law, but still worth keeping an eye on as it makes its way through the legislative process.
Boston Fed Launches Payments Advisory Council
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston formed a new Payments Advisory Council, which includes executives from Toast, Wex, and State Street.
The council will meet a few times per year, aiming to help shape the bank’s policy outlook. While no public updates are planned, it still fits the broader pattern that the Fed is willing to pull in payment industry voices to weigh in on its policy processes.
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