A U.K. government panel is calling for the development of an open banking standard that will enable banking data to be shared and used securely, giving consumers access to tailored financial solutions and an easier way to compare products and services.
The European Commission has put markets out of their suffering by finally confirming a one year extension to the entry into application of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II. The extension has been made to overcome technical implementation challenges faced by both regulators and market participants. The new deadline is 3 […]
Bitcoin continues to encounter hurdles as its supporters try to facilitate the digital currency’s mainstream acceptance. Though certain states and countries are welcoming bitcoin, or permitting it with certain provisos, Russia is considering a ban.
There’s one challenge that regulators seem unable to address, and that is regulation itself. Today’s evolving regulatory environment seems to be beset by a range of internal contradictions. One such contradiction is the banks’ decision to act as clearing providers for derivatives businesses.
The CFPB announced today a three-prong approach to ensure consumers are receiving a fair shake regarding checking account access. But what may surprise many in the prepaid industry is that the agency also is providing information to consumers about the prepaid option.
Shortly after the original deadline to reach an agreement expired on Sunday, the EU Commission and the U.S. have agreed to a new Safe Harbor deal. The new framework will protect the fundamental rights of Europeans when their data are transferred to the U.S. and ensure legal certainty for businesses, according to an EU Commission announcement.
European Union leaders are calling for tighter regulation of prepaid cards and virtual currencies to restrict terrorist financing and anonymous payments. The European Commission—the executive arm of the EU—also said it will consider launching an intra-EU version of a transaction monitoring agreement that has since 2010 helped detect the movement of funds by terrorists between the U.S. and EU.
Prepaid cards continued to comprise just a tiny percentage of the consumer complaints received by the CFPB, according to the agency’s latest monthly complaint “snapshot” report. During the month of December 2015, the CFPB received a total of 230 prepaid-related complaints (out of 20,388 total complaints), down 11 percent from the 257 complaints it received in November.
U.S. House Republicans have accused the CFPB of bungling payouts meant to settle claims of racial discrimination in auto lending.
Two separate cases involving credit card fraud have led to a sentence of 80 months in prison for leading one of the largest credit card fraud schemes and a guilty plea to a charge of stealing credit card data.
Big data has proven to be a useful tool for retailers and financial services providers seeking to identify customer habits and preferences—but federal regulators are warning that certain uses of consumer information may potentially violate consumer protection laws.
Money Market Statistical Reporting presents a fair number of challenges. And firms are pressed for time to prepare for these requirements, according to an overview prepared by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. Where they may have adopted tactical solutions in the past to meet transaction level reporting obligations, now is a good opportunity to think more strategically about investing in the right platform and infrastructure. This is especially true given that daily reporting obligations will soon be extended in 2018 to include securities and financial transactions
Add another state in play regarding proposed restrictions on payroll cards. Washington state representatives introduced a bill making it unlawful for payroll card providers to charge certain fees.
Following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, some European member states are calling for swift action, while others are concerned that too much regulation would stifle prepaid card distribution and innovation.
Every bank wants to achieve a single view of a customer, but no-one has found an easy, cost-effective, scalable way to do it. The simple fact is that there is too much customer information, entering the bank from too many places, to align and maintain into a single view. An effective solution would reduce costs, allow the bank to generate revenue faster, facilitate KYC processes and meet regulatory requirements.
When a terrorist spends cash, there is no trace, no history of where it came from, where or how it was spent. But using a prepaid card leaves a trail to follow.
A U.S. appeals court has declined a request from Florida for a full review over a ruling that allows merchant to offer discounts for cash transactions, a move that could lead to more Floridians choosing to pay with cash.
If 2015 was all about how the financial sector continued its post 2008 crisis transformation, 2016 looks set to promise even more developments in the same vein across the EMEA region. The ongoing change continues to be remarkable in its depth and scope impacting financial institutions and technology firms like Wolters Kluwer Financial Services who exist to enable banks and others to navigate risk and regulatory complexity
Buy-side block trading venue Liquidnet has released a set of EMEA trading algorithms, which it says will help market participants to find liquidity ahead of the European Commission’s upcoming MiFID II legislation, which introduces important changes for dark pools.
The CFPB recently released its November complaint report or “snapshot” of consumer complaints it received through its Website for the three month average between September 2014 and November 2015. Although prepaid saw a jump of 215 in complaint volume, prepaid complaints still represented only 2 percent of all complaints the CFPB received during the period.
A proposed rule that would place new Customer Due Diligence requirements on financial institutions—including prepaid issuers—has taken a step forward with the release of two new documents estimating the impact and cost the proposed rule would have on regulated institutions and seeking comment from stakeholders by Jan. 25.
The European Union’s initiative to create a Capital Markets Union in Europe is currently stuck in a quagmire of political debate. That shouldn’t discourage politicians and regulators from taking the necessary steps as soon as possible, according to a new report by the International Capital Markets Association.
On 12 January new EU regulations on securities financing will take effect. Local regulators including France’s AMF have warned financial institutions to be ready for the new rules, which require greater transparency.
The People’s Bank of China (PBC), the country’s central bank, this week has revoked the license of Shanghai Chang Gou Enterprise Services, a prepaid card-issuing company, preventing it from selling prepaid cards, according to Reuters.
Two payday lenders have settled Federal Trade Commission charges over allegedly hitting customers undisclosed and inflated fees.
Idaho’s Department of Agriculture is the first government department to launch the eGovExpress digital wallet developed by Olathe, Kan.-based NIC Inc., provider of official government Web portals and digital government services for more than 3,500 federal, state and local government agencies.
The CFPB needs to return to its original plans on prepaid regulations and put its proposed rules on a New Year’s diet. By issuing rules focusing solely on disclosure, the CFPB could issue guidance earlier in 2016 that would help consumers, prevent access disruptions, and potentially reduce the size of the landfill needed to for the mountains of noncompliant cards and marketing materials.
Operational risk and cyber-security concerns are converging as a topic for risk managers, who also face a changing agenda resulting from the digital transformation of baking and financial services.
The CFPB yesterday released its “Safe Student Account Toolkit,” which includes a scorecard to help colleges pick the best school-sponsored deposit or prepaid accounts for their students.
If 2015 is to be remembered as the year regulators challenged boards to demonstrate their strong governance over their risk management, 2016 promises something just as important. In fact, 2016 will arguably be a truly momentous year in the world of non-financial risk as it could well become the year that risk governance silos are finally dismantled
It’s almost become a holiday tradition for Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to propose prepaid legislation in December. His previous three attempts went nowhere, but this time he proposed his bill in November. Still, more pressing issues, such as spending and cybersecurity, may keep his measure on the back burner for now.
The European Union’s cap on fees banks can charge retailers for processing credit and debit card payments went into effect today, but there are some questions whether the measure will have the desired effect.
The FTC has banned telemarketers from accepting four types of payments—among them are cash reload mechanisms. The ban is supposed to help shield consumers from fraudulent telemarketers.
The number of CFPB employees grew to 1,529 in 2015, from 1,443 the previous fiscal year, according to the agency’s financial report for the 2015 fiscal year, ended Sept. 30. The CFPB collected civil penalties totaling $183.1 million from 37 cases in 2015—a substantial increase from the $77.5 million collected in 2014.
The CFPB has denied UniRush’s petition to narrow the scope and extend the time the company has to produce documents for a bureau investigation following an October system outage that left some RushCard cardholders without access to their account information and, in some cases, their funds.
Complying with the European Commission’s Payment Services Directive II is like climbing the massive sandstone bulk of Ayers Rock in Australia – you think you’ve reached the top, and then you realise you still have a long way to go, according to speakers at the recent European Payments Regulation conference in London.
As part of the ongoing Basel reforms, the Bank for International Settlements is busy rewriting the rules that govern how much capital banks must maintain in order to mitigate different types of risk. So far the Standardized Approach for Measuring Counterparty Credit Risk Exposures and the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book have garnered the most attention. However, these are just two components of a much larger package of changes to the Basel capital requirements, which banks need to think about holistically and start factoring into their technology programs now
Deciphering how the CFPB handles consumer complaints—and ultimately decides to take action against a company—can be difficult. During a recent Webinar, Tristram Wolf, a Ballard Spahr associate and former CFPB attorney policy writer and investigator, joined colleagues in offering an inside look at the complaint process and tips for staying out of the CFPB’s crosshairs.
Target is moving another step forward in its attempts to put its 2013 data breach behind it.
In a Congressional hearing yesterday, lawmakers examined the role mobile payments technologies are playing in disrupting traditional payments, paying particular attention to how mobile has increased payments security and enabled small businesses and underbanked consumers to access electronic payments.
