Apple, Google Likely Targets in Consumer Watchdog Payments Rule

A US financial regulator will soon have the chance to police big tech companies such as Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google for the role they play in the consumer payments market.

First, however, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau must decide how to write a rule that captures the biggest nonbank players in the growing payments market, amid concerns about how the tech companies use consumer data and resolve payment disputes.

Observers say that companies including PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Venmo unit and Block Inc.’s Cash App service will almost certainly fall under the the CFPB’s forthcoming " ...