This summer, regulatory pressure on financial services firms has ratcheted up to unprecedented levels. Many may have breathed a sigh of relief as Dodd-Frank rule-making slowed … but the respite was only fleeting. Since July, the industry has been bombarded with 39 new consultation papers in the EU and UK alone
It should be no shock that the risk for banks of being caught-out for non-compliant activity has soared in recent years in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008. Banks are being monitored more closely now than ever before and it’s been difficult to escape without scrutiny or a heavy reputational impact.
The CFPB is focusing on universities in the Big Ten Conference to see if these schools, some of the largest in the U.S., have appropriately disclosed their agreements with financial institutions regarding the financial products they offer their students. “Making these agreements available for all financial products shows schools’ and companies’ commitment to transparency, helping […]
MetaBank has been released from its Consent Order by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), according to an announcement by the bank’s parent company, Meta Financial Group.
Many mobile apps used for shopping don’t provide consumers with enough information before they download them to their smartphones, according to the FTC.
Paybefore typically confines discussions about state legislative and regulatory activity to the State Tracker section of Pay Gov. But after we published Pay Gov yesterday, Illinois passed a law that explicitly allows payroll cards in the state, subject to certain conditions.
Cross-border payments in the Eurozone have reached a milestone, with Aug. 1 marking the migration deadline for all credit and direct debit transfers to comply with Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) requirements.
HCE moves payments credentials to the cloud, which could radically speed up mobile payments development. Analyst Sarah Grotta believes HCE also offers compelling leadership opportunities for prepaid card issuers.
Alibaba Group’s $7.5 billion empire lurks like a crocodile waiting to strike its next opportunity. What does the Chinese giant’s appetite mean for the worldwide payments industry?
Debit card-initiated overdrafts are leading to disproportionate charges for cardholders, with fees often larger than the overdraft amount, according to a new report by the CFPB.
After a decade of being the ATM maker you’ve never heard of, Diebold is returning to Europe and a year into his tenure as president and chief executive at the firm, Andy Mattes thinks that the company’s profile is about to change.
Federal officials are warning retailers about a new form of malware that hackers could use to access POS systems and steal consumer data.
The reason Europe calls it a regulatory ‘hearing’ is that it is an opportunity to hear views from both regulators and the market. Of course, that’s just part of the experience as many other senses are triggered when 400 people are locked in a basement for 2 days, deprived of connectivity, food and caffeine …
Entries for the Banking Technology Awards 2014 have been open for a while now, but as we move into the last few weeks, this is always a time when we are flooded with questions about the process. By way of response, here are some guidelines based on my experience chairing the judging panel over the past 11 years.
The European Commission wants to bring down the barriers to cloud computing in a move that promises to revolutionise the way transaction banks can serve clients.
A recent bout of high profile cyber-attacks on financial institutions across the UK, US and Canada has put the spotlight back on the importance of data security and the need to be diligent when it comes to cybersecurity within the banking industry
Leading payments lawyer Judie Rinearson calls N.Y.’s proposed “BitLicense” rules comprehensive, but are they so comprehensive they’ll chill virtual currency businesses in the state? Give us your opinion in Pay Poll.
Analyst Rick Oglesby posits that what’s happening outside of payments will actually have a bigger impact than what’s happening inside payments. Crazy or on point? Read and decide.
The mobile wallet is having a transformative effect on people’s lives in developing countries, bringing safer, faster, easier financial services to the people who need it most
The news last month (June) that the Luuuk malware had snared its first victim, an unnamed European bank, has again highlighted the magnitude of the challenge facing the banking sector. While the reported theft of €500,000 during the course of a week certainly does not break any records, the discovery of what is believed to be a variant of the feared Zeus malware, is just the latest in a line of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks
The CFPB wants to expand its Consumer Complaint Database to enable consumers to provide a narrative with their complaints about financial services.
The merchant plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Board of Governors have been granted another extension to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
Mobile NFC services continued to expand in 2013 but the big question is, will this be amplified or disrupted by the introduction of host-based card emulation (HCE) into mainstream operating systems?
With the Canadian government planning to phase out paper checks by 2016 for federal benefits recipients, half of Canadians who are unwilling to use direct deposit would be willing to try receiving their benefits on a reloadable prepaid card, according to a public opinion report released earlier this year and commissioned by the Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC).
Unlike manufacturing companies, which run their operations on a single predominant ERP system supported by a few auxiliary solutions, banks have added layer upon layer of technology, ending up with an unmanageable snarl of systems and applications. Just to put things in perspective, it is estimated that on average global banks have more than 5,000 applications.
Regulators across the globe appear divided on the question of whether tighter control of algorithmic trading is necessary: the Australians are pretty laid back about it, the Germans are ahead of the game, while political debate rages in the US …
BLE is getting a lot of buzz because of its potential to complement other technologies like NFC for marketing and consumer engagement, but certain questions remain about its purpose and future.
Canada’s Vancity Credit Union could be an inspiration for U.S. lenders as it explores new territory, working with the CFSI to devise an affordable small-dollar loan product with an unsecured credit line suitable for underbanked consumers.
Setting up a bank in the UK is costly, time-consuming, heavily regulated and not easy. As a result, the dynamic, start-up culture that drives innovation in many other sectors is less prevalent within banking and financial services.
The rise of new technologies is drastically redefining both the responsibilities of chief financial officers and the way they work, providing the ability tomake better organisational decisions with faster, accurate and more reliable data.
As China prepares to open an options market for the first time later this year, big changes are afoot in Asia’s biggest market. French trading technology specialist Horizon Software talks to Banking Technology about the kind of tools that will be needed to liberalise the Chinese economy.
As the implementation of T2S approaches, there is still a gap between the readiness levels of different types of market participant, new Celent research finds. But a ‘wait and see’ approach can only take some firms so far, argues Isabelle Olivier, head of clearing and settlement EMEA at Swift
With passwords continuing to attract widespread derision from consumers it seems that businesses are starting to listen to their customers and in recent weeks voice biometrics has been hitting the headlines, as the technology is set to replace the bane of so many people’s lives.
Banks should not be blind-sided by sustaining innovation: a large part of their digital initiatives look at delivering existing services cheaper, faster and (sometimes) better – but true disruption occurs when addressing customer needs better, faster and maybe, cheaper.
In a landmark ruling, the US Supreme Court has ruled that the intermediated settlement of financial exchanges is an abstract idea and therefore not patent-eligible. David Puth, chief executive of CLS, which won the case in question. discusses the implications of the ruling.
The Supreme Court ruled today to throw out President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as unconstitutional. CFPB Director Richard Cordray was appointed the same day but has since been confirmed by the Senate, suggesting the ruling will have little or no effect on the CFPB.
With the advancement of smartphone technology and social media, we’re witnessing a cascade of innovation around loyalty and incentive products. But driving steady deal redemptions requires smooth connections to payment network rails.
Growth in prepaid GPR and payroll cards today exceeds that of all other noncash forms of payment, but stickiness remains a problem for issuers and program managers. Adding mobile access and other financial tools to the mix—such as check deposits with instant good funds and expedited bill pay–makes prepaid a compelling proposition for consumers and providers alike.
A lesson learned from the global financial crises was how critical free cash flow can be for corporates, their customers, and their suppliers. As businesses seek to unlock cash flow from day-to-day operations, savvy treasurers have discovered vendor payments as a means to extend payment terms while improving vendor health, writes Chris Bozek, Managing Director, Head of Global Trade and Supply Chain Products Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
A consortium of merchant groups has been given more time to decide if it will try to take a long-running lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to the U.S. Supreme Court.
