The financial services sector may be heavily regulated, but it is poorly standardised. A British Standards Institute-led initiative to drive more adoption of voluntary standards could reap considerable benefits for the industry.
San Francisco startup offers merchants a data-driven business insights platform that does the heavy lifting for them.
In a recent press release, the CFPB called on financial institutions to “voluntarily” disclose to the public its financial product marketing agreements made with colleges and universities.
As we approach year-end, the Canadian federal government has introduced three items of significance to federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs).
With regulators agreeing that “higher expectations” must be met by G-SIFIs for risk data aggregation and reporting by 2016, firms are now under huge pressure to provide data strategies and implementation plans and end denial about any shortcomings.
Moving to improve and clarify payroll card industry practices, MasterCard today released new standards requiring all employers and payroll card providers involved in offering MasterCard-branded payroll cards to meet specific protocols for consumer choice and transparency
With new arrivals from big names including FATCA, MiFID, Dodd-Frank and the AIFMD, 2014 is set to be another eventful year in the regulatory space. So what are our Top 10 predictions?
With no fewer than 70,000 pages of regulation, and some record fines, 2013 will be a year to remember (or possibly to forget) for many financial services professionals
Basel III has transformed liquidity risk management departments into glorified regulatory functions, according to a new report by analyst firm Celent. As if this good news was not enough to be getting on with, the research house also inevitably concludes that banks will have to change their risk data, models, appetite, organisational and analytics frameworks too.
For centuries, Turkey has stood at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. While the country is leading the way in mobile banking, its infrastructure reflects a culture where minarets mix with mobile masts and ATMs compete for space with ancient monuments.
With the rise in mobile payments and wallets, cash is dead and so is the ATM business, right? Not according to the ATM manufacturers, who are all being remarkably sanguine.
The No. 1 barrier to consumer adoption of flexible spending accounts (FSAs) has been removed. The U.S. Treasury and IRS on Halloween announced they were changing their stance on the so-called “use-or-lose” rule, enabling consumers for the first time to rollover up to $500 from their FSAs instead of forfeiting those funds back to their employers.
MiFID II is almost upon us. Expect it to be the topic of conversation very soon. So what do you need to know about it?
Separating customer billing from core systems can have dramatic effects on the bottom line – a study by Boston Consulting Group at one bank found that 17% of clients were unprofitable.
Change is coming to the prepaid card industry, whether by regulation or legislation, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray promised lawmakers this week at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, but he declined to provide a timetable. “[Prepaid cards] are one of the problem areas in consumer financial protection because they’re a hole in the […]
Conduct risk is gaining teeth, and with MiFID II on the way it’s set to gain a whole load more. But there is just one problem: nobody quite agrees on what conduct risk means or where its boundaries are set.
New OCC guidance reminds financial institutions that third-party oversight is where it’s at.
It’s unclear whether the prepaid industry will have the CFPB’s proposed rules for GPR cards by Dec. 31, or if the wait will extend into 2014.
Payroll card industry participants should brace for more potential negative news as lawmakers and plaintiffs’ attorneys around the U.S. continue fishing for outlier examples of payroll card abuse, observers say. The industry’s antennae shot up earlier this week when Pennsylvania lawmakers followed through on an earlier promise and proposed legislation to ban payroll cards. Separately, […]
Two House Democrats have proposed measures to crack down on money laundering by deterring the use of shell corporations and giving regulators the authority to hold bank executives accountable for misconduct taking place on their watch. The first bill, proposed by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), would strengthen the government’s ability to charge individuals with violations […]
A law prohibiting surcharges on certain types of payments should apply to mobile carriers, an adviser to the EU’s Court of Justice told the Austrian Supreme Court, which is currently deliberating an appeal by T-Mobile after the carrier’s surcharges were ruled illegal by lower Austrian courts. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by a […]
With new regulations on remittance transfers set to take effect next week, the CFPB laid out its standards for examining companies covered by the rules. In Jan. 2012, the CFPB issued its final rule outlining remittance regulations as set by the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule was revised in May 2013 after complaints from industry participants […]
The European Central Bank (ECB) is calling the next three months critical for stakeholders still needing to migrate to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) for electronic payments transactions. The deadline for migration to SEPA credit transfer (SCT) and SEPA direct debit (SDD) schemes is Feb. 1, 2014. “Everybody has to be ready . . […]
Cybersecurity and cyber espionage have been in the headlines the past few years as leaked stories relating to government-sponsored activities have appeared and sabre rattling between aggrieved nations has moved to the public domain. At the same time an increased volume of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) on banks and other institutions carried out […]
The credit card industry has largely cleaned up its act in the four years since sweeping new federal rules took effect, though some concerns remain, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau concluded this week. The CFPB’s 102-page report on the impact of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) passed in 2009 found […]
Crowdfunding—a term used for a group of people pooling their money, typically through Websites, to support projects—is being used to help finance everything from films to NFC-enabled jewelry.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday hosted a Banking on Campus Forum in Washington, D.C., as part of its ongoing investigation into campus cards. Some college students said they feel pressured into using specific financial products—which can include student ID cards that double as debit or prepaid cards and are used to access scholarships and […]
What do hundreds-of-thousands of counterparties, dozens of regulations and your many regulators all want from you? Better counterparty classification …
As trade flows shift across regions and economic headwinds blow, the trade finance business is facing challenges. Anne Queree examines how correspondent banking networks are adapting
As the Chinese Government continues its phased internationalisation of the renminbi, financial institutions are evaluating their strategies. Daily News at Sibos asked some Sibos delegates what financial institutions need to do to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by RMB internationalisation.
As the focus on operational risk increases, Nicholas Pratt discovers that the greatest threats to a bank’s security lie outside of its four walls
Innovation in financial services may not generate products quite so world-changing as the inventions of Edison, but the principle of finding better ways to do something does inform most developments.
The complexity of corporate actions has stymied automation efforts for more than a decade. But there could be light at the end of the tunnel …
How is the global custody and asset servicing model changing? Will consolidation occur? What do clients want? Daily News at Sibos finds out
Crawling from the wreckage – Daily News at Sibos asks whether the industry will experience another Lehman Brothers-type crisis. Have market participants learned their lesson?
New technologies are transforming the consumer experience in retailing and in banking. For banks to remain relevant, they need to work with innovators, writes Paul Skeldon
For those involved in European payments, the final months of this year are likely to be characterised by a frenzy of activity as the deadline for migration to single euro payments area instruments looms.
With implementation of Europe’s Target2-Securities beginning in 2015, financial institutions are still defining their strategies and business models. Some questions remain to be answered.
Standardised data architecture at financial institutions is no longer a ‘nice to have’. Regulatory pressures and headline grabbing fines have rocketed enterprise data management to the top of the boardroom agenda.
International financial centres can play an important role in easing companies’ participation in new markets. Heather McKenzie looks at the elements needed to build a successful financial centre
