Company: DLX
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000027996-25-000051
Chunk: 30

Company: DELUXE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 30
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 is difficult to predict or quantify. 

Portions of our business operate in highly regulated industries, and our performance could be significantly affected by applicable laws and regulations. For instance, international, federal, and state laws concerning the protection of consumer information require us to establish, implement, and maintain policies and procedures to safeguard the security and confidentiality of consumers' personal data, and these laws and regulations may limit or restrict how we use this data. Our business is also subject to regulations affecting payment processing, including merchant processing, automated clearing house transactions, remote deposit capture, lockbox services, and credit card processing fees. Compliance with these regulations necessitates the development, implementation, and maintenance of specific policies and procedures related to payments, and potential legislation limiting credit card processing fees could negatively impact revenue in our Merchant Services business. Furthermore, some of our contracts with financial institution clients impose additional requirements that are often more stringent than the regulations themselves, including confidentiality clauses related to small business customer information. These regulations and agreements typically restrict our ability to use or disclose personal information beyond its original intended purpose, potentially limiting business opportunities. Proposed privacy and cybersecurity regulations may further increase compliance costs associated with data protection. The complexity of adhering to the many and varied privacy and cybersecurity regulations may increase our costs and those of our clients, potentially reducing their discretionary spending and their capacity to purchase our products and services.

Given our increased reliance on the internet for sales and marketing, laws specifically governing digital commerce, the internet, mobile applications, search engine optimization, behavioral advertising, privacy, and email marketing may affect our business. Existing and future laws addressing digital and social marketing, privacy, user tracking, consumer protection, or commercial email could limit our ability to market and provide our products and services. More restrictive regulations, such as new privacy laws, consumer protection restrictions on “dark patterns,” search engine marketing limitations, “anti-spam” regulations, or email privacy rules, could reduce marketing opportunities, decrease website traffic, and/or increase the cost of acquiring new customers.

Due to additional regulatory costs, financial institutions may continue to exert significant pricing pressure on their suppliers, including their check and service providers. The increased cost and profit pressure may also drive further consolidation of financial institutions. Additionally, some financial institutions prohibit the offering of add-on services, such as bundled products, fraud/identity protection, or expedited check delivery, to their customers. If we are unable to market such services to consumers or small businesses through the majority of our financial institution clients, it could adversely affect our results of operations. Moreover, as our product