The future of money? Banks and tech startups in Europe are testing "wearables" – rings, watches, bracelets, key rings, fobs and wristbands – that are linked electronically to debit or credit cards, the latest technology to move payments away from plastic cards and mobile phones. ABN AMRO is testing the technology in the Netherlands, while Barclays is offering stickers to customers in the U.K. that can "turn almost anything into a payment device."
Indeed, Europe is farther ahead of the U.S. when it comes to mobile banking and financial technology in general, and their respective regulatory regimes have a lot to do with it. "While some policymakers in the United States are trying to make it easier to open new banks, progress has been slow," the New York Times reports. "States do not want to cede oversight, and without a license, American financial start-ups must set up partnerships with traditional banks to hold deposits."
By contrast, "support from regulators in Europe has given momentum to companies entering the market there." In the U.K., for example, "officials have been concerned about the power of large banks in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and they see the start-ups as weakening the hold of traditional lenders."
It's not just retail banks that need to be worried. "Europe's asset management industry is likely to have an abrupt wake-up call as two of the fastest-growing fintech companies [Revolut and Plum] have their sights set on disrupting the industry with cheap and easy-to-use investments that suit customers traditional managers find hard to attract." Revolut, which has 2.6 million customers in Europe, is in the process of offering exchange traded funds, while Plum, a robo-adviser tool, is rolling out six funds to its customers on Monday. The company counts Vanguard as one of its partners.
Wall Street Journal
Leaving the Fed alone President Trump's recent nominees to the Federal Reserve indicate that the White House "isn't spoiling for a fight" with the Fed as it continues to raise interest rates. "His selections have mostly been non-ideological, pragmatic policy experts who are well regarded within the Fed rather than central bank antagonists likely to push for a dramatic course change," the Journal notes. "The latest to fit this mold is former veteran Fed economist Nellie Liang," who was nominated last week.
"If the Trump administration wanted greater direct influence over the Federal Reserve, nominating a well-respected former Federal Reserve staff member [like Liang] would not be the way to achieve that objective," said one economist.
Financial Times
Now the real battle begins Last week's $6.2 billion settlement of the class action lawsuit between the credit card networks and American retailers "may look large, but in the context of the amount spent on cards and the fees merchants pay, it is remarkably small." But it's also not the end of the story for Visa, Mastercard and large U.S. banks, which have been sued by merchants over the swipe fees they charge. The settlement "brings card issuers scant relief," the FT says, and the "main battle over rules imposed on merchants begins next year."
Welcome to the big leagues Invesco's plan to buy OppenheimerFunds and its $248 billion in assets under management would push the company's aggregate assets under management to more than $1.2 trillion, "placing it in the upper echelons of the global industry along with Fidelity, BlackRock, Vanguard, Capital Group or Amundi." MassMutual put OppenheimerFunds up for sale earlier this year.
Reprimanded Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays were called on the carpet by the head of parliament's Treasury select committee after suffering IT disruptions last week. "This is yet another addition to the litany of failures of banking IT systems," Nicky Morgan said. "High street banks justify the closure of their branch networks on the basis that they are providing a seamless online and mobile phone banking service. These justifications carry little weight if their banking apps and websites cannot be relied upon."
Quotable
"The goal is not to be just another medium-size bank — we want to become the Amazon of finance." — Chad West, head of marketing at Revolut, a European fintech company.
The FDIC Board debated and ultimately withdrew two separate proposals to address asset managers' control over banks, but acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said he couldn't support either and called for more research and debate about how asset managers' control over banks impacts safety and soundness.
The state's Comptroller of Public Accounts is one of several notable non-depositories with access to the Fed's payments system, along with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Tennessee Valley Authority. So why do they have accounts while some neobanks don't?
Mortgage rates rose 7 basis points this week, Freddie Mac said, and more increases are likely following a weaker than expected gross domestic product report.
While home lenders are seeing a decrease in issues coming through mobile channels, phone fraud spiked last year, accounting for 28% of losses, a new report found.
The Jackson, Mississippi, company will use proceeds from the sale of its Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance unit to restructure its investment portfolio, moving $1.6 billion of low-yield securities off the balance sheet.
The store-branded card issuer is raising annual percentage rates and adding fees for paper statements to compensate for lost revenue. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new regulation is scheduled to take effect on May 14.