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Pala Interactive LLC, an online gambling operator, will use payment-processing services from Optimal Payments Plc, Optimal announced this week. Online gambling revenue in the United States is forecasted to be $2.6 billion by 2017, according to one estimate. Another estimate, from Odobo and H2 Gambling Capital, forecasts $7.7 billion …
Read More »The CFPB Proposes Strong Federal Protections for Prepaid Card Accounts
By Jim Daly The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday unveiled proposed regulations for prepaid accounts that for the first time would bring to prepaid cards many of the federal protections that currently apply only to credit and debit cards. The CFPB’s plan would limit consumers’ losses when funds are …
Read More »Settle Into the Easy Chair To Read the CFPB’s 870 Pages of Prepaid Card Rules
If you want to print out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed prepaid card regulations, think again. They run 870 pages in PDF form, so you’ll need almost two reams of paper and plenty of ink. The regulations unveiled Thursday would require so-called “Know Before You Owe” disclosures and aim to …
Read More »Giant Eagle Reverses Spiraling Transaction Costs With Durbin-Assisted Rate Arbitrage
The Durbin Amendment may be best known for its stringent ceiling on debit card interchange, but merchants are discovering that another part of the law that requires transaction-routing choices can be just as effective as rate caps in controlling processing costs. Giant Eagle Inc., a Pittsburgh-based supermarket chain operating nearly …
Read More »Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Shut Down Alleged Drug Site Silk Road 2.0 That Used Bitcoins
Federal law enforcement agencies said Thursday they arrested the person they allege ran a Web site devoted to the buying and selling of illegal drugs using the virtual currency known as Bitcoin. Officials with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the FBI and the Homeland …
Read More »FBI and DoJ Officials Offer Advice on How Digital-Currency Firms Can Stay Out of Legal Trouble
Payments entrepreneurs and veterans alike view Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies as the new land of opportunity, but with the territory comes a considerable amount of legal risk. Federal authorities busted the Liberty Reserve and Silk Road ventures, the latter because it attempted to hide illegal activity by requiring customers …
Read More »New York State’s Financial Boss Offers Break for Startups as New York Develops Its “Bitlicense”
In an effort to prevent money laundering, New York State’s top financial regulator made history last year when he proposed that virtual-currency providers obtain a so-called “Bitlicense” to ensure that they have proper controls in place to protect consumers’ money. Now Benjamin M. Lawsky, superintendent of the New York Department …
Read More »Issuers’ Apple Pay Pact Assigns Remarkable Authority to Card Networks As Well As Apple
Issuers signing up to have their cards included in the Apple Pay wallet may benefit from all the hype Apple Inc. is generating for the new mobile-payment service. But behind the scenes, the 500 or so financial institutions that have enlisted in the program so far are also signing up …
Read More »Obama Uses His Bully Pulpit To Push Cybersecurity—and Endorse PIN-Based EMV
By Jim Daly President Barack Obama on Friday signed an executive order committing the federal government to offer and accept Europay-MasterCard-Visa- (EMV) chip cards. A retailer trade group quickly praised Obama for endorsing the chip-and-PIN variety of EMV when others in the payment card industry would make do with chip-and-signature …
Read More »Banks’ Out-of-Network ATM Fees and Overdraft Fees Again Set Records
By Jim Daly Average out-of-network ATM fees set a record in 2014 for the eighth straight year by rising 5.3% to $4.35 per transaction, well above a 1.5% increase in 2013 but close to their 17-year average, according to Bankrate Inc.’s annual study of checking-account fees. Overdraft fees set a …
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