The PSD2 directive will let third parties use the information stored in financial institutions and the only path to achieve this leads through an open API. The API is now being discussed and developed, but it’s not clear when it will be finalised, released and deployed.
Five months after Department of Education rules regulating financial aid disbursements went into effect, the CFPB released a report on Dec. 14 claiming that marketing deals between banks and colleges often promote financial products that lead to high overdraft and other fees. Meanwhile, industry observers note that overdraft—when permitted—requires students to opt-in and there are other ways to avoid fees.
A New York State law setting fee and expiration date restrictions on “gift certificates” could spell big trouble for providers of several types of open-loop prepaid products in the state, and may even render certain types of products impossible to offer in New York, according to industry experts.
President Obama signed a health care bill into law on Dec. 13 after the U.S. Senate—despite its lame-duck status—overwhelmingly approved legislation that’s been called the largest health care reform since the Affordable Care Act.
Regulations requiring two-factor authentication could force the industry to move away from frictionless payments experiences like Uber and one-click checkout.
On Dec. 1, retailers involved in long-standing litigation against Visa and Mastercard asked the Supreme Court to reconsider a landmark $7.25 billion settlement that was rejected by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year.
Home Depot has scored a victory in the legal fight that followed the retail chain’s 2014 data breach. The retailer’s investors cannot sue its board of directors via a shareholder derivative suit, ruled a federal judge in Georgia, the home state of the chain.
The European Banking Authority working with the European Central Bank has released a consultation paper on guidelines for payment service providers to follow in the event of security breaches. Among the suggested mandates is notifying authorities of an incident within two hours from the moment the breach is detected—that’s significantly faster than the breach notification requirements set to go into force next year, which mandate notice within 72 hours and applies to some U.S. companies.
The IRS reports that there’s been a nearly 50 percent drop in fraudulent returns, and there has been significant progress in stopping fraudulent returns before refunds are ever paid, due in part to new information provided by industry and state partners.
Given the pace of change and innovation underway in traditional industries it would take a brave person to predict how the finance industry will look in five years’ time, however I don’t believe high street banks will disappear and be replaced by online blockchain alternatives, the regulatory hurdles are just too high.
Our new series of thrillers – produced and directed by CustomerXPs and Banking Technology – narrate the tales of the fight between the forces of good (the Clari5 analytics and anti-fraud software) and the forces of evil. Based on real events and guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat!
Prepaid will continue to be a key ingredient in bringing 2 billion people worldwide into the financial mainstream. But over the past five years, we’ve learned that public-private partnerships are mission-critical. And we’ve still got work to do.
The market is evolving from being dazzled by the flashy lights of innovation to buckling down and implementing plans to address the opportunities ahead. Emphasis is shifting from talking about the cool stuff to driving adoption of the most actionable innovations. Are you investing in the right trends?
As consumers start using mobile to pay each other, it’s only natural that they’ll expect businesses to pay them that way, too. For those of us who serve corporate clients, enabling electronic payments to those mobile-centric consumers is a significant opportunity.
Having achieved status as a “mainstream” financial services product, prepaid cards now must prove themselves indispensable to cardholders’ lives. To take prepaid to the next level, prepaid providers need to connect with and engage cardholders in ways that position the product as vital to their financial wellbeing.
While you might think younger millennials are more likely to make a purchase from their mobile devices, more likely to snap a selfie and more likely to want to use selfies for ID verification, in fact a new survey found just the opposite.
Having spent many years in the technology wilderness, has HPE finally determined the future of NonStop? Thinking about the more than 40 years that have passed since we were first introduced to fault tolerant Tandem Computers, particularly considering what transpired following the acquisition of Tandem Computers by Compaq and then Compaq by HPE, did we anticipate that there would be an expansion of the NonStop product portfolio? And to see not just one, but two distinct families of NonStop systems and with the possibility of further options featuring NonStop just around the corner? It is surprising to many that all this time hasn’t taken the sheen away from any of the magic that is NonStop!
The U.K.’s Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) plans a sea change to the U.K. payments system after determining an inability for new payments infrastructure projects to compete as alternatives to the three interbank payment systems, Bacs, Faster Payments Service (FPS) and LINK.
Cybercriminals have stolen about $31 million from Russian Central Bank accounts, according to a Reuters report. The hackers broke into bank accounts after faking a client’s credentials, a bank spokesman said at a briefing, disclosing few other details. In a separate instance, Russia had recently warned about a plot by foreign countries to wage cyberattacks on its financial institutions.
Reading the technology news these days you could be forgiven for thinking that some seismic revolution is occurring almost every day! Stories abound of Airbnb, Facebook, Uber, Alibaba taking over the world and demolishing our traditional business models – ushering in a new age where the “interface is king”. But are they revolutionary and game changing disruptors? I am not so sure…
Fintech companies seeking charters would have to fulfill multiple requirements under the proposal, including performing core banking services.
As with any long-term human relationship, our relationship with banks is complicated. There’s a sense of co-dependence, transgressions that shake our trust, the occasional fleeting thought of escape. How to reignite the magic spark between a bank and its customer?
Rising cybercrime in India is no secret. According to a report by Symantec, India now ranks third in the world, after the US and China, as a source of malicious activity. In fact, the National Crime Records Bureau data reveals that in the three years up to 2013, registered cases of cyber crime were up 350%, from 966 to 4356. Dubious distinctions both, and give banks and the financial sector in India cause for worry.
Incentives that banks offer employees to increase sales can pose “significant” risks to consumers, the CFPB warned this week in a new bulletin following record fines assessed to Wells Fargo for opening millions of unauthorized consumer accounts.
Apple has scored a big win in Australia for the company’s mobile wallet. That country’s competition regulator has denied a request by big local banks to collectively negotiate over the introduction of Apple Pay there.
Who do you trust with your money? Well, if the latest talk in personal finance is anything to go by, we’ll soon be placing our trust in an altogether less warm-blooded beast. Move over mankind: the robots are coming. But not so fast!
The European Banking Authority in January is set to release its online transaction rules in response to the revised Payment Services Directive, or PSD2, which calls for “strong customer authentication” for online payments. Visa also opposes the measure.
The ATM is one of the most recognised and trusted pieces of technology on the high-street, but as it too has come under pressure from the wave of digitalisation sweeping almost every aspect of our everyday lives. The humble ATM is no longer a single physical touch point…
No longer are the mid-tier banks doomed to be extinct! The arrival of open application programming interfaces (APIs) will enable them not just to survive but to prosper, states Chris Truce, director of platform development at Saxo Bank.
The FDIC’s final rule establishing recordkeeping requirements for large financial institutions offers some relief for banks that hold prepaid accounts insured under pass-through coverage, but there’s still a lot of heavy lifting to be done for covered institutions.
Visa has modified and clarified debit network routing rules, following recent FAQ guidance issued from the Federal Reserve and to address a Federal Trade Commission inquiry.
It’s infographics time! A great compilation of fintech companies, showing how we’ve gone from graph paper to personal data algorithms – and everything in between.
The economy of the future will need a vastly different platform for making payments. Consumers and corporations will need access to easier, faster and flexible platforms. I have entered the market with the bold objective of bringing to South Africa and Africa, the revolutions underway in global payments infrastructure – and the necessity of re-design to keep up with the “payments Joneses”.
The CFPB has filed a motion for a rehearing before the entire appellate court after a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sent shockwaves in October when it determined the structure of the bureau is unconstitutional because it’s led by a single director who can only be removed by the president for just cause.
A European plan for new online transaction authentications has come under fire from Visa, which says the proposal will make online checkout needlessly complicated for consumers.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 17 ruled in favor of allowing an antitrust class-action lawsuit against Mastercard, Visa and their bank partners proceed after a lower court ruled that the consumer plaintiffs had no standing, according to a Reuters report.
In her new column for Banking Technology, Devie Mohan, a fintech market strategist, looks at how Singapore has created a fintech ecosystem that is a major threat to the ones in London and Berlin.
Banks are not competing with banks anymore, but against the ubiquitous, all pervading unified digital experience, which is driving the adoption of digital across the corporate banking value chain. Fintechs are a great example of how innovations in digital can deliver speed to market, a superior customer experience and better pricing.
Republican legislators and business associations, emboldened by Donald Trump’s successful presidential bid, have set their sights on the CFPB, an agency that’s been in Republicans’ crosshairs since the day it was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. Meanwhile, retailers are calling on Congress to steer clear of introducing legislation that would repeal financial services reforms they say are critical to U.S. businesses and consumers.
With a growing number of products and services available to help consumers manage their finances electronically, being able to do so means sharing their digital financial records.
