Viewpoint: Let’s Reduce Complexity and Improve Disclosure
The Colorado congressman suggests having too many disclosures is a disservice to consumers.
Regulation
CFPB Hearing on Payday Lending (March 16, 2015)
The CFPB will be holding a field hearing concerning payday lending at noon EDT, Thurs., March 26, in Richmond, Va.
Direct Express Earns High Marks from Cardholders; Treasury Shares Demographic Data (March 11, 2015)
The U.S. Treasury’s Direct Express prepaid benefit card program earned a 95 percent satisfaction rating from cardholders in 2014, marking the sixth consecutive year of near 100 percent customer satisfaction.
Regulations raise new questions about industry standards
Financial market regulations across the globe are increasingly focusing on risk management. This includes ensuring it is clear who firms are trading with and for, and confirming that firms can identify the instruments being traded. As a result, the field of reference data is increasingly held under the regulatory microscope and that lens extends to the standards used to identify financial instruments, writes Chris Pickles.
Supreme Court: Regulators Can Change Rule Interpretations without Advance Notice, Comment Period (March 10, 2015)
The Supreme Court is backing the authority of regulators to reinterpret their own rules without seeking industry input.
CFPB Releases Arbitration Study; Considers Next Steps for Regulation (March 10, 2015)
The CFPB is considering next steps in weighing new regulations for arbitration agreements widely used in financial services businesses to settle consumer disputes, following today’s release of the 728-page “Arbitration Study: Report to Congress 2015.”
EU Passes Interchange Caps; Prepaid Businesses Must Look Elsewhere for Income (March 10, 2015)
The long road to interchange reform in the European Union has come to an end of sorts with passage of interchange caps today in the European Parliament.
Swift adds peer assessment to sanctions service
Swift has added peer assessment to its Sanctions Testing service. An optional service it will allow financial institutions to compare the performance of their sanctions filters against those of other participating institutions.
Fenergo enhances Regulatory Rules Engine
Fenergo has enhanced its Regulatory Rules Engine software, used by investment banks investment banks and capital market firms for client lifecycle. The software enables financial institutions to comply with a range of regulatory frameworks based on a single, out-of-the-box repository of rules.
Cordray’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress Focuses on Mortgages/Lending (March 3, 2015)
CFPB Director Richard Cordray today addresses the House Financial Services Committee for the bureau’s semi-annual report to Congress.
N.Y. May Put AML Onus on Bank Execs (Mar. 3, 2015)
New York is considering a plan to hold top banking executives personally responsible for the quality and effectiveness of their firms’ AML efforts.
Viewpoint: Supervisory or Enforcement Action, Deputy Director Antonakes Explains How the CFPB Decides
The CFPB’s Antonakes explained his bureau’s supervisory approach and enforcement actions and how they are different from that of the federal banking agencies.
CFPB’s Submission Overhaul for Credit Agreements Could Streamline Prepaid Process (Mar. 2, 2015)
The CFPB is updating the system credit card issuers use to submit their card agreements to the agency’s public database, and the new automated process could be used by prepaid card issuers if submitting cardholder agreements as proposed by the agency’s NPRM on prepaid accounts becomes law.
Breaking down BCBS 239
January’s Basel Committee on Banking Supervision report on banks’ progress towards BCBS 239 compliance threw up a telling contradiction. While global systemically important banks “are increasingly aware of the importance” of the BCBS 239 project, their sense of preparedness has decreased. In 2013, 10 of the 31 eligible banks reported they would be unable to comply fully by the 2016 deadline. This year, that number rose to 14. It is understandable that there is more work to be done, but how is it that the G-SIBs are moving backwards?
The Theory of Everything – and TCA
In the Oscar-winning film The Theory of Everything the lead character Stephen Hawking lays out his vision of a single equation that explains all physical aspects of the universe. This rarefied scientific debate has echoes in the more prosaic world of Transaction Cost Analysis in financial markets, where the availability of more granular data coupled with pressure from regulators is driving a whole new wave of research and analysis, says ITG’s Michael Sparkes.
Judge Tosses Anti-Steering Rules, but Expert Says Door May Be Open for Appeal (Feb. 19, 2015)
A federal judge has ruled that American Express no longer may bar retailers from steering customers toward paying with cards with lower merchant fees.
Pay.gov Integrates PayPal, Dwolla with U.S. Gov’t Payments Portal (Feb. 19, 2015)
Pay.gov, the U.S. government’s online payments portal for 90 federal agencies, is expanding to embrace digital wallets, including PayPal and Dwolla, the U.S. Treasury announced this week.
Federal Gov’t to Support Apple Pay; MasterCard and Visa Beefing Up Security Efforts (Feb. 17, 2015)
The U.S. government is the latest to get behind Apple Pay as part of its commitment to encourage more secure payments technologies, the White House announced during its Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University on Feb. 13.
Ohio Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Add Congressional Oversight to CFPB (Feb. 17, 2015)
Lawmakers last week reintroduced a bill to add congressional oversight for the CFPB, which currently operates independently.
Banks warned to brace for the coming storm as Carbanak malware steals $1 billion
Financial institutions are being urged to revisit their cyber-security following revelations that an online gang using the Carbanak malware stole up to $1 billion from banks in 30 countries around the world in a series of highly-sophisticated attacks over the last two years.
Industry Veteran Creates CFPB NPRM Word Cloud
Wondering what the CFPB’s NPRM emphasizes?
Avox offers API connections to legal entity data
Avox, the DTCC’s legal entity reference data subsidiary, has launched a series of web-based application programming interfaces designed to support faster access to data, including legal entity identifiers, legal names, addresses, industry classifications and corporate hierarchies.
Fed Exec Floats Idea for Government-Backed Virtual Currency (Feb. 9, 2015)
As bitcoin and other virtual currencies remain subject to heavy scrutiny—and proposed regulation—by various government agencies, a senior Federal Reserve researcher is raising the possibility of the government creating a virtual currency of its own.
House Passes Bipartisan Bill Curbing CFPB Budget; Veto Expected
he House of Representatives on Feb. 4 passed bipartisan legislation sponsored by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) that she says would require greater transparency in government and would cap the CFPB budget for FY2016 at $550 million, $36 million below its expected funding.
Gov. Christie Signs ZIP Code Repeal Bill (Feb. 6, 2015)
N.J. Governor Chris Christie (R) signed into law a bill that eliminates the collection of consumer ZIP code information for gift cards purchased at the POS, putting an end to a protracted legal battle over unclaimed property rules in the state.
NYAG Widens Access to Bank Accounts, But Still Plenty of Room for Prepaid (Feb. 3, 2015)
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants to increase access to traditional banking services by getting banks to change their account-opening criteria. But broader access to checking and savings accounts doesn’t mean consumers won’t continue to seek out alternatives, including prepaid cards, which may have more features and fewer fees, according to industry observers.
CFPB Considers Comment Period Extension for Prepaid, but More Time Seems Unlikely
In a Jan. 27 letter to U.S. Rep. Sean P. Duffy (R-Wis.) and several other members of Congress, CFPB Director Richard Cordray said the agency would give the lawmakers’ request for a 60-day extension to the comment period for its prepaid NPRM “serious consideration.” But the rest of the letter suggests that the agency feels 130 days since the proposal went up on its Website will be adequate for stakeholders to comment.
FDIC Backs off Operation Choke Point (Jan. 29, 2015)
Critics of the DOJ’s controversial Operation Choke Point, which encourages financial institutions to scrutinize clients that operate certain types of businesses, such as payday lenders and firearms sales, may welcome the latest news from the FDIC.
FDIC Advises Banks to Contact Examiners on Brokered Deposits
Prepaid issuers aren’t the only ones confused by the potential implications of the FDIC’s recent FAQs on brokered deposits. The agency offered some clarifications to ABA staff but recommends issuers reach out to their examiners with specific questions.
Fed Issues Paper Announcing Plan to Improve U.S. Payment System (Jan. 27, 2015)
The Federal Reserve this week issued a new report, “Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System,” outlining a plan to enhance the overall speed, safety and efficiency of the nation’s payment system with collaboration from payment industry participants including businesses, payment card networks, processors, payment technology firms, consumers and financial institutions.
Regulators set to clamp down on HFT market abuse in 2015 warns report
Securities market regulators are beginning to clamp down on market abuse linked to complex high-frequency trading strategies – but there is much more to be done, according to a new report by financial consultancy Kinetic Partners.
House Financial Services Committee to Examine Payments in New Term (Jan. 22, 2015)
With the newly seated 114th Congress in its third week, the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) has laid out its agenda for the upcoming term, including several items with potential implications for the prepaid and emerging payments industry.
The Bancorp Reclassifies Deposits in Compliance with FDIC FAQs (Jan. 21, 2015)
The Bancorp Inc., parent of The Bancorp Bank, disclosed last week in a short regulatory filing that it reclassified deposits as “brokered” as a result of FAQs issued by the FDIC on Dec. 24, 2014. The FAQs—which, for practical purposes, have the effect of a rule of law—require reclassification of deposits underlying many types of prepaid cards, as newly documented by the FDIC.
CFPB Seeks Applicants for Committee Seats (Jan. 20, 2014)
The CFPB is accepting applications to fill seats on three separate committees. The CFPB announced the openings in a notice in the Federal Register late last week.
Breaking News: Supreme Ct. says “no cert” in NACS et al v. Board of Governors (Jan. 20, 2015)
In declining to review the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the controversy over the Fed’s interchange fee cap is over. Read more later today in Pay News.
CFPB Seeks Input for Campus Card Guide (Jan. 15, 2015)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is creating a guide to help colleges evaluate institutions that offer financial accounts to students—and the CFPB is seeking input in devising the document.
Viewpoint: FDIC’s Brokered Deposits FAQs – Implications Range from Limited to Significant for Prepaid Issuers: It All Depends
As in any complex document, there are some ambiguities in the FAQs and time will tell how those will play out. But, what’s clear is that for many banks, the FAQs raise the cost of doing business, which will (or should) precipitate a review of business models.
The media as a source of reputational protection, rather than risk
For better or worse, financial institutions are more risk averse than ever. This is the direct result of continuing and growing regulatory scrutiny over a broad range of activities, including the compliance of financial institutions in areas such as international sanctions, the prevention of money laundering, the funding of terrorism or the facilitation of tax evasion.
NACS: All Eyes on Supreme Court (Jan. 13, 2015)
Retailers and payments executives who were hoping to get an answer from the Supreme Court this week on whether the court will hear NACS et al v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System will be waiting a bit longer.
Obama Unveils Bills to Safeguard Consumer Data (Jan. 13, 2015)
President Obama is throwing support behind new legislation to further protect consumers from data breaches, while backing another new bill that would prevent companies from misusing student data. At a Federal Trade Commission presentation Jan. 12, President Obama outlined the Personal Data Notification & Protection Act, which would require U.S. companies to notify customers within […]
