Prepaid cards and alias-based payments that rely on email or mobile phone numbers can offer students and colleges and universities significant benefits over traditional check disbursement of financial aid.
A new study from Juniper Research is forecasting that more than half (53 percent) of global transactions at the point of sale will be contactless within five years, compared with just 15 percent this year.
Plagued by delays, threatened by Congressional repeal and finally opened to further comment and changes, the CFPB’s final rule on prepaid accounts now has consumer groups calling for the bureau to “strengthen” consumer protections while a credit union trade group wants the rule rescinded.
It’s a rare ray of sunshine for the embattled Uber, as it won a key fight in the U.S. Second Court of Appeals, which ruled its terms and conditions (Ts & Cs) are legally binding
Is fintech to banking what craft ale is to brewing? If so, what can banks learn from the rise and rise of craft ale? Aden Davies, principal consultant at ABZD, looks at ten trends seen in the craft ale industry that have interesting parallels with the rise of fintech.
Mobile contactless transactions in the U.K. topped £370 million (US$476 million) in the first six months of 2017, a whopping 336 percent year-on-year increase, according to the latest transaction data from payments processor Worldpay. (Infographic included.)
As expected, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) is not going to let the CFPB’s final rule on arbitration agreements go down without a fight. The ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protections wants big banks—not just their lobbyists—to address the issue.
Former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks is appealing the U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal’s decision not to certify his claim in a proposed £14 billion (US$18.2 billion) class action lawsuit against Mastercard over interchange.
The CFPB has released a new overdraft study, along with four prototypes of “Know Before You Owe” disclosures, which the bureau is testing, possibly ahead of regulating checking account overdrafts.
Banks are investing in immediate payments to drive revenue, while focusing their IT investments on fraud prevention and operational efficiency, according to new benchmark data from ACI Worldwide and London-based consultancy Ovum.
The CFPB issued a bulletin July 31 warning companies about tricking consumers into expensive pay-by-phone fees. The bureau says it’s concerned about companies potentially misleading consumers about the purpose and amount of certain pay-by-phone fees or “keeping them in the dark” about much cheaper payment options.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on July 25 in favor of HJR 111 to repeal the CFPB’s final rule on arbitration agreements. The vote was 231-190, but the companion resolution in the Senate may be on the back burner for a while as the Senate focuses on budget and health care battles.
This open letter from German fintech figo is not about the usual pros and cons of this debate, but intends to provide the European Council with actual solutions, i.e. smart trade-off ideas that could mean an end to the everlasting screen scraping debate and eventually the RTS process.
As promised, Congressional Republicans have introduced joint Congressional Review Act resolutions to repeal the CFPB’s recently finalized rule on arbitration agreements. The House is expected to vote July 25 on its version of the resolution (HJR 111), which Rep. Keith J. Rothfus (R-Penn.) introduced in the House on July 20 with 33 co-sponsors.
Mastercard can breathe a sigh of relief as the £14 billion (US$18.15 billion) lawsuit—a collective action over card charges that were passed on to shoppers—has been stopped by the U.K.’s Competition Appeals Tribunal.
The U.K.’s HM Treasury is banning surcharges on credit and debit card payments. For prepaid card providers, the new rules put significant fee income related to card-loading at risk, according to Polymath Consulting.
Aditya Challa of IMImobile takes a look at some current and future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for customer experience in the financial and banking sector, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome. Beyond the current race to build chatbots, he predicts that voice-driven AI services will ultimately become the main […]
It didn’t take long for Congressional Republicans to pounce on the CFPB’s final rule on arbitration agreements, which the agency released on July 10. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said he would support use of the Congressional Review Act to dismantle the rule, while Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) already has drafted a CRA resolution and is working with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (Idaho) to introduce it “soon.”
The OCC’s latest risk report for banks highlights competitive pressure from fintech companies, loosening of credit underwriting standards, operational risks associated with third-party service providers, and compliance risks around Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and AML monitoring.
It’s difficult to say just yet who the ultimate victors will be in the battle over arbitration—trial lawyers, consumers, the financial services industry, Congressional Republicans or the CFPB—but the bureau fired the latest salvo by issuing its final rule on arbitration agreements on July 10. The move comes despite warnings from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) that doing so could result in contempt proceedings.
Consumers wrote nearly two-thirds fewer checks per household in 2015 than in 2000, while total noncash payments per household, which includes checks, card payments and electronic transfers via ACH, expanded almost 95 percent, according to additional results released June 30 from the “2016 Federal Reserve Payments Study.” While the numbers are encouraging to those facilitating electronic payments, prepaid providers have some work to do to gain market share.
A U.K. citizen living in New York is facing fraud charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in relation to two bogus investment schemes. Renwick Haddow allegedly reaped millions of dollars from investors in his supposed bitcoin platform Bitcoin Store Inc. and in Bar Works Inc., which offers office space in renovated restaurants and bars.
Consumers prefer to use P2P payments for retail purchases, paying back relatives and friends, and settling bills—but not so much for contributing to group gifts or paying housing costs, according to a new report from NerdWallet. It also found that that while only 35 percent of U.S. consumers use such P2P products as Venmo, PayPal and Square Cash, 63 percent are interested in the payment technology.
The CFPB receives more than 20,000 complaints every month, according to Director Richard Cordray, and the bureau’s latest installment of its Monthly Complaint Report highlights consumer complaints at the state level. As of June 1, the CFPB has received more than 1.2 million complaints across the country since it began accepting them in 2011. The top three states with the most complaints are California, Florida and Texas with 159,158, 111,559 and 93,472 complaints, respectively.
The CFPB on June 27 filed two complaints and proposed final judgments in federal court against four California-based credit repair companies and three individuals for “misleading consumers and charging illegal fees.”
On June 26, artificial intelligence captured the imagination of some at Money20/20 in Copenhagen. But during the June 27 sessions on the second day, it was like I had stepped back in time to November 2016, reported Deputy Editor Antony Peyton. Last year, at the Payments International conference in London, PSD2 left some in the payments industry confused as to where the risks and opportunities lie.
One-fourth of Americans say they have too much debt, with 96 percent of them reporting they are financially stressed, according to a survey by the Center for Financial Services Innovation to gauge Americans’ financial well-being. While those statistics are bleak, they should signal an opportunity for banks, credit unions, fintechs and other companies to provide products, services and guidance to improve consumers’ financial stability, according to Jennifer Tescher, founder and CEO of CFSI.
The U.K. needs more competition in its retail payments infrastructure. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the country’s Payment Systems Regulator.
The CFPB has issued a request for comment on proposed changes to its final rule on prepaid accounts that would adjust requirements for resolving errors on unregistered accounts and provide greater flexibility for credit cards linked to digital wallets.
The Financial CHOICE Act of 2017 (HR 10), legislation to overhaul the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was approved along party lines by the U.S. House of Representatives 233-186 on June 8. The legislation focuses on ending big-bank bailouts and supporters say it provides more accountability for Washington and Wall Street, while removing barriers to economic growth.
Anders la Cour, CEO of ground-breaking payments utility Saxo Payments Banking Circle, which is underpinning the service propositions of a growing number of payments businesses, reports on the payment pain points currently faced by merchants who have ambitions to trade globally.
The U.S. Justice Department may have dropped its antitrust suit against American Express, but 11 states want to press on in a case that started in 2010. At issue is the company’s push to prevent Amex-accepting merchants from offering shoppers financial incentives to use other card brands.
There is no question that the commercial card sector is growing strongly. According to Research and Markets, the US commercial card market in particular is outstripping other B2B payment types. For banks and banking services providers, this presents a huge opportunity to grow revenues while improving customer experience – a vital component in customer retention and increased lifetime value.
Retailers are claiming victory in the battle, if not the war, regarding proposed legislation that would have repealed interchange reform included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Full House set to vote on amended Financial CHOICE Act June 9.
What support does the fintech industry, and the broader financial ecosystem actually want (or need) from government?
Target Corp. has agreed to pay $18.5 million in a settlement with 47 states and the District of Columbia that stems from a November 2013 data breach of the Minneapolis-based retailer. The breach affected more than 41 million customer payment card accounts and exposed contact information for more than 60 million customers.
The vanishing branch offices… Could more coffee save them? Richard Buckle, founder and CEO of Pyalla Technologies, muses.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, companies tried to generate new business by sending marketing messages to prospective clients by post. Direct or “junk” mail – sending a leaflet or letter to anyone for whom the firm had a job title, street address or postcode – was pretty unsophisticated, often derided as a “scattergun” approach.
The CFPB’s final rule on prepaid accounts has survived a bid to repeal it via the Congressional Review Act (CRA), with lawmakers failing to bring the matter up for vote by the May 11 deadline. But despite the CRA efforts having fizzled, reforming the rule is still on the table.
Brad Fauss is joining Wirecard North America as general counsel and vice president, compliance and governmental affairs. In his new role, he is responsible for managing the legal, compliance and governmental affairs functions for the North American business. Wirecard, a payments and commerce leader headquartered in Munich, finalized its acquisition of Citi Prepaid Services in March 2017, as part of its global expansion strategy.
