Big Tech Foes Eye CFPB Rule as Step to More Intense Oversight

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s aim to supervise payment apps offered by companies including Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. represents a potential first step in broader regulation of the digital payments market.

The CFPB’s proposal this week would allow the agency to get under the hoods of the 17 largest digital wallets and payment apps, such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Venmo service, and Block Inc.’s Cash App, to determine their compliance with federal payments, privacy, and other laws. Beyond just compliance with regulations, the rule would let the agency’s examiners sit in corporate headquarters and ...