On The Web

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Regulation

Japanese Online Retailer Rakuten Seeks U.S. Bank Charter

July 29 2019

• in
• Financial regulators

“Japanese online merchant Rakuten Inc. wants to open a bank in Utah to offer loans, credit cards and other financial services to customers of its existing U.S. cashback-shopping business, the company said Friday. “We’re going to focus on that customer base we already have,” said Lee Carter, the new head of banking development at Rakuten […]

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Regulation

IRS Sending Warning Letters to More Than 10,000 Cryptocurrency Holders

July 26 2019

• in
• Cryptocurrencies
• Financial regulators

“The Internal Revenue Service has begun sending letters to more than 10,000 cryptocurrency holders, warning about penalties for failing to report income and pay tax on transactions involving virtual currencies. The agency expects its mailing to be completed by the end of August. It is sending three variations of one letter, depending on the information […]

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Companies

Betterment Faces Questions From Regulator After Launching Checking and Savings Accounts

July 25 2019

• in
• Betterment
• Financial regulators

“Regulators have asked online wealth advisor Betterment to clarify some details surrounding its new checking and savings accounts just hours after they were launched. The digital wealth-management start-up unveiled new accounts that offer as much as a 2.69% annual yield. But Betterment was asked to provide more specifics to one of its regulators almost immediately […]

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Regulation

Govt Unveils Draft E-commerce Norms

August 6 2019

“To protect consumers’ interest, the Centre has proposed guidelines for e-commerce firms that entail a 14-day deadline to effect refund request, mandate e-tailers to display details of sellers supplying goods and services on their websites and moot the procedure to resolve consumer complaints. The consumer affairs ministry has sought views of stakeholders on the draft […]

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Regulation

Visa Critical of India’s Move Toward No-fee Debit Card Transactions

August 19 2019

• in
• Price caps

“Last month, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that businesses with annual turnover of 500 million rupees will not have to pay a merchant discount rate on debit card and other digital modes of transactions, excluding credit cards. The discount rate is paid by the merchant to banks, card payment networks, and other financial intermediaries […]

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Regulation

WhatsApp Compliance Under India Review Before Payments Approval

August 15 2019

• in
• Privacy regulation

“India is reviewing an audit report on data practices of WhatsApp Inc. to ensure compliance with local rules before permitting a nationwide debut of the Facebook Inc. -owned company’s long-delayed payments service.  “We have received the data localization compliance system audit report from WhatsApp, which shall be reviewed in the next few weeks,” a Mumbai-based […]

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Regulation

UK Regulator Agrees to 18-month Phase in of Customer Authentication Rules

August 13 2019

• in
• Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)

“The U.K.-based Financial Conduct Authority agreed to delay the implementation of an 18-month phased implementation of stronger customer authentication requirements, following numerous requests from industry groups and European regulators who agreed that many retailers, banks, consumers and other participants were not ready .”

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Regulation

SCA Delayed by a Further 18 Months

August 7 2019

“The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has delayed the enforcement of strong customer authentication (SCA) by a further 18 months. The SCA delay comes after a number of warnings that the new EU online regulations, which are designed to reduce fraud, could cause online sales to suffer. As reported by the Financial Times, SCA was set […]

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Regulation

Democrats Try to Force Fed’s Hand on Faster Payments

July 24 2019

• in
• Real-Time Payments

“A group of House and Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that would require the Federal Reserve to create a real-time payments system. The Payments Modernization Act, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the central bank has been moving too slowly to determine whether to develop its own payments system, […]

On The Wires

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Regulation

Signifyd Launches Seamless SCA to Provide Customer-First PSD2 Solution

August 7 2019

“Signifyd today launched Signifyd Seamless SCA , a pioneering set of modern secure payment services that meets the requirements of the PSD2 regulation and allows retailers to optimize revenue while providing their customers with friction-free buying experiences that cultivate return shoppers and build customer lifetime value.”