Law and regulation

Mobile-banking access is one of several services financial institutions might start charging for if the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new debit card interchange rules take affect, one analyst believes.

U.S. consumers will not be receiving any more telemarketing pitches from robocaller Fereidoun Khalilian, under a settlement reached by the Federal Trade Commission.

Police in the of Jakarta have ordered banks operating in Indonesia’s capital city to beef up their ATM security, a spokesperson for the department tells PaymentsSource.

WASHINGTON – The banking lobby is rejecting Visa Inc.’s proposal for a dual system on debit card interchange, saying such a system would only force merchants to migrate to lower-cost cards as mandated for the biggest issuers.

WASHINGTON — A Financial Crimes Enforcement Network plan to require banks to report all international wire transfers to the government is fundamentally flawed and must be significantly scaled back or withdrawn, according to several banks and their representatives.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are having second thoughts on a provision creating price controls on debit card interchange they easily approved during last year’s debate on the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.

Qatar Airways Ltd. and DataFlight Europe AS are collaborating to enable authorized bankcard acceptance onboard flights for duty-free purchases, the Doha-based airline announced last month.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in his first State of the State address, this week recommended the creation of a Department of Financial Regulation that would merge the state's Banking Department, Insurance Department and Consumer Protection Board.

After another year in which legislators and regulators rewrote the rules of the game in the payments industry, equity markets have rendered provisional judgments on which companies face the worst handicaps.

A proposed policy by the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, that would hasten migration to a Single Euro Area Payments system also may ban direct debit fees in 2012.

The top banking authority in India has issued a new regulation designed to further protect cardholders from fraudulent transactions made at ATMs.

Meta Financial Group Inc.’s escalating regulatory problems could foreshadow broader scrutiny for prepaid card companies.

In its latest regulatory hit, Meta Financial Group Inc. will have to reimburse customers of a high-interest loan program marketed to prepaid cardholders.

Credit card issuers were expected to raise fees and cut rewards to compensate for lost revenue from new regulations. But some have done the opposite, eliminating fees they are still permitted to charge.

Banks in the United Arab Emirates have begun to increase credit card fees, and some are introducing charges for services that previously were free.

New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced awards of approximately $13 million in grants will be funded by the settlements reached in a statewide student loan investigation.

To some, Elizabeth Warren's concept of a consumer protection regulator is an innovation. To others, it's an abomination. Either way, it's here to stay, and banking regulation will never be the same.

Credit cardholders in the United Kingdom will gain more control over their card accounts in the New Year because of recent changes in industry policy.

Green Dot Corp. faces little financial risk from proposed legislation that would ban certain fees on prepaid cards, according to a stock analyst.

The Federal Reserve Board’s proposed rules regarding debit card interchange and network routing so far have generated only 35 comments, but one legal expert suggests “many” letters now in development will appear closer to the Feb. 22 comment deadline.