News

The House of Representatives voted 416-6 on Wednesday to pass two bills from the Financial Services Committee, including one measure that would establish a rulemaking deadline for the SEC to implement a certain JOBS Act provision. Under H.R. 701, the … Read More…

The House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee recently concluded its review of “too big to fail” on Wednesday, finding Dodd-Frank did little to end TBTF but “enshrined it” instead. “Title II of Dodd-Frank, which created the Orderly Liquidation Authority, made government … Read More…

The North American Bangladesh Worker Safety Working Group, which is comprised of five Canadian and U.S. retail associations, reaffirmed its commitment to improving worker safety conditions in Bangladesh on Wednesday. The “Safer Factories” intiative includes short-, medium- and long-term goals … Read More…

CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia spoke before Energy Risk USA’s recent conference on the commission’s “unknown unknowns,” areas of the rule implementation process that are “impossible to identify, but in hindsight…are the result of the Commission’s inconsistent rules.” O’Malia said the … Read More…

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions currently has lobbyists on Capital Hill working to ensure credit unions’ tax exemption as Congress moves forward on debate and issues surrounding tax reform. Recently, the House Ways and Means Committee held a … Read More…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently said that he plans to hold a vote next week on CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s nomination to the position. Reid has sought to make changes to Senate filibuster rules, though he said he … Read More…

The CFPB announced on Wednesday the availability of several Youtube videos featuring plain-language information on the agency’s new mortgage rules. The videos relate to mortgage servicing, the Truth in Lending Act’s escrow rule, loan originator compensation rule, ability-to-repay—or QM—rule, the … Read More…

CrewCash Card, a payroll and benefits platform, launched on Thursday to allow crewmen employed by participating shipping and trading firms to receive direct deposit paychecks on a MasterCard branded prepaid debit card. “MasterCard is constantly looking for new products and … Read More…

MasterCard announced on Tuesday it named Robert Keenan as the new lead for debit in the Asia/Pacific region, and Jason Tymms as the new prepaid lead for the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region. Keenan has worked at MasterCard since … Read More…

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions said in a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board on Tuesday that its proposal to amend accounting standards would be overly burdensome and near useless for credit unions. The FASB’s exposure draft … Read More…

ePaymentAmerica’s social commerce tool Yapyzal, the first of its kind that allows businesses to design and share product offers on social media sites and secure payment processing via the social media platform, debuted on Tuesday. The service was initially launched … Read More…

A recent report showed that while import volume across the nation’s retail container ports is expected to increase by 3.3 percent this month, growth will likely fall flat by the end of the summer. “The weak cargo increases expected over … Read More…

Citi Brazil announced on Tuesday its intent to sell Credicard, the bank’s consumer finance and non-banking credit card business, to Banco Itau Unibanco, pending approval by Brazilian regulators. Once approved by regulators, the transaction is expected to contribute to a sales gain … Read More…

A recent survey by the National Association of Federal Credit Union’s Economic and CU Monitor found that 44 percent of credit unions plan to quit offering loans that are not “qualified mortgages” under the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule. Nearly 93 percent … Read More…

Mobile security firm Tyfone released on Wednesday its Connected Smart Card solution, which will allow healthcare, financial and government entities to enhance user ID information used to access sensitive or personal data. The solution combines hardware, software solutions and hosted … Read More…

CFPB Director Richard Cordray spoke to the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday on the efforts the agency has put forth to help the housing market recover from the financial crisis. “The aftermath of the financial crisis has left a … Read More…

On Monday, American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced Washington National Cathedral as the winner of the Partners in Preservation effort, which will allow the church to receive its full grant request of $100,000. For the past … Read More…

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew recently said in a prepared statement for the Financial Literacy Education Commission that it is crucial for Americans to develop basic financial literacy and learn to manage their finances. “We need to make sure young … Read More…

Enservio, a software provider for property insurers, announced on Monday an agreement with MasterCard to move away from paper claims checks to prepaid debit card payments to reduce costs, improve flexibility and enhance security. “Processing paper checks is costly and … Read More…

CARD.com recently announced a new Star Trek prepaid card from CBS Consumer products set to debut in the U.S. card market. “We live in a mobile world, and the next generation of banking isn’t tied to a brick-and-mortar institution – … Read More…

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions recently urged lawmakers to ensure that housing finance reforms allow credit unions continued access to the secondary mortgage market. “This source of liquidity is critical to enabling credit unions to serve the mortgage … Read More…

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) requested on Tuesday that Attorney General Eric Holder, Federal Reserve and SEC release information on the costs to the taxpayer of enforcement actions without an admission of guilt. In February, Warren asked Thomas J. Curry, the … Read More…

MasterCard announced on Tuesday that it will be the official payment card of the French Tennis Federation’s Roland-Garros tournament. “This is a great opportunity to reinforce our partnership with Roland-Garros and the French Open,” MasterCard CMO Alfredo Gangotena said. “It … Read More…

President Obama said during this week’s address that the housing market is on the mend and urged lawmakers to confirm Mel Watt as the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “Today, seven years after the real estate bubble … Read More…

ROAM, an Ingenico subsidiary, announced on Monday a new program in coordination with iPayment  that will provide U.S. merchants with mobile point-of-sale solutions. ROAM’s mobile commerce platform will complement iPayment’s system, providing merchants with the G4X Secure Mobile Card Reader, … Read More…

Visa announced on Monday a processing enhancement for Visa Offers, which allows merchants, issuers and acquirers to deliver targeted rewards to Visa cardholders The service allows consumers who opt in to the program to earn points and discounts and redeem … Read More…

The Federal Reserve told borrowers whose mortgages were serviced by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs would receive additional payments under the Independent Foreclosure Review payment agreement after they received less than the promised amount in the last payment. Last year, … Read More…

A stronger jobs report, rising home prices and a bullish stock market contributed to a 0.6 percent increase in April retail sales from March and a 3.9 percent year-over-year increase. “In the face of higher taxes and sequester, consumers provided … Read More…

In a Friday letter to the National Credit Union Administration, the National Association of Federal Credit Unions voiced concern about the cost of external counsel, as well as NCUA’s proposal to ramp up credit union data collection. PJ Hoffman, regulatory … Read More…

The National Credit Union Administration recently notified member institutions of three risk areas, including money services businesses accounts, reloadable prepaid cards and remote deposit capture, that could be used to launder money. “Complying with the Bank Secrecy Act can be … Read More…

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said last week that regulators should re-examine Basel III’s proposed leverage ratio that FDIC officials have said is too low. “We are still working on Basel, and I am hopeful that we will soon … Read More…

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation last week that would allow students to pay the same interest rate on federal loans as big banks pay to borrow, urging lawmakers to keep interest rates from doubling this summer. Student loan rates … Read More…