The financial services industry has always pursued technical supremacy. But after years of financial crisis and attempted reforms to improve the transparency and understanding of risk exposure in financial services, we seem as much in the dark as ever …
A group of merchant associations this week petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a March decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
ACI, the foreign exchange industry body, has called for the adoption of a new Model Code for sell-side and buy-side firms on financial benchmarks, to harmonise codes of conduct and prevent a recurrence of the Libor and other recent rate fixing scandals.
Letter writing among U.S. lawmakers has been fast and furious lately as they try to influence how the U.S. Department of Education handles new rules governing universities’ and colleges’ arrangements with financial service providers that deliver financial aid dollars.
Most capital markets firms are still not using big data and even those that do often lack a concerted strategy, according to a new report commissioned by Thomson Reuters.
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
FinCEN is urging financial institutions to foster a culture of compliance with Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) rules and has issued an advisory explaining how basic principles can strengthen compliance within organizations.
It isn’t just complaints about prepaid card products that the CFPB is trawling for.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on Aug. 11 posted a net loss of $2 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, compared with a net loss of $740 million for the same period a year ago, increasing pressure on the beleaguered organization to find new sources of revenue.
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.
The UK Government is to examine the potential of digital currencies as positive force in the wider economy and as a means of encouraging innovation in financial services.
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.
A Financial Conduct Authority investigation that found banks and brokers are failing to provide best execution highlights the need for more responsibility and education among their buy-side customers.
Federal officials are warning retailers about a new form of malware that hackers could use to access POS systems and steal consumer data.
New intraday liquidity reporting tools set out by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision could pose a serious challenge for banks, according to a new white paper by Swift.
The FDIC has clarified its previous guidance related to the DOJ’s Operation Choke Point, which encourages financial institutions to scrutinize payment processor clients that process payments for certain types of businesses.
Employees and former employees of 16 McDonald’s restaurants across Pennsylvania have filed a class action lawsuit against the restaurants’ owners for violating the law when they allegedly failed to provide a method of receiving wages other than on a payroll card.
Government-funded prepaid cards continue to grow steadily, with agencies at the U.S. federal, state and local levels using prepaid to disburse benefit funds, tax refunds and other payments.
New restrictions on campus debit cards being considered by the U.S. Department of Education have the potential to be too far-reaching and severely limit students’ access to financial services, according to more than 40 U.S. lawmakers—senators and congressman, Democrats and Republicans.
The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association announced today that Doug Bower will join the association as executive director and president, effective August 5, 2014.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the legislation born from the economic crisis a half-decade ago, turned 4 years old this week. The shockwaves from the law, which has significant impact on the prepaid industry, likely will be felt for years to come.
New York State’s Department of Financial Services is seeking public comment on a recently proposed “BitLicense” regulatory framework for digital currency businesses in the state.
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.
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).
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 …
The IRS has announced new procedures, effective January 2015, limiting the number of tax refunds electronically deposited into a financial account or prepaid card account to three, in an effort to combat fraud and identity theft.
Visa and MasterCard may be able to dodge paying massive security deposits to continue operating in Russia, under new legislation that took effect July 1.
Cole Taylor Bank has been ordered to pay more than $4.1 million by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) and the Fed for failing to properly monitor the activities of its third-party “agent” Higher One Inc.
Australian broker Macquarie Futures has begun using a cloud-based reconciliation service from Gresham Computing and Amazon Web Services, which the broker says will help it to make its North American derivatives business more efficient.
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.
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.
While digital currency has received a frosty reception from many national governments, it has been greeted a bit more warmly in Canada.
NJ S 2235 was introduced in the State Senate, offering hope that New Jersey’s attempt to grab unclaimed funds that otherwise may be owed to another state finally might be put to rest.
Fund managers are showing a “significantly more positive attitude” to the imminent Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. Initial fears appear to have subsided, the challenges and predicted costs have significantly reduced and the industry is realising the opportunities.
