Law and Regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced changes to its controversial prepaid accounts rule and extended its effective date by one year, to April 2019. The changes will adjust error-resolution requirements for prepaid card providers and will make it easier for consumers to link credit card accounts to digital wallets, some …

After a short-lived scare, investors in the budding cannabis sector don’t seem to be rattled by the hard line being taken by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions against their industry. But the legal marijuana industry is certainly no closer to getting payment card merchant accounts and other mainstream financial services, …

The Western Union Co. and the New York Department of Financial Services announced Thursday that the wire-transfer market leader will pay a $60 million fine to settle alleged violations of the state’s anti-money-laundering laws, including transactions that supported human trafficking from China. New York authorities alleged that between 2004 and …

Unable to get approval from federal authorities, wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. and China-based Ant Financial Services Group disclosed Tuesday that they have terminated their merger agreement, almost a year after it was first proposed. In a joint news release, the firms said they’re bailing on Ant’s plan to acquire …

The underground market for personally identifiable information is flourishing, with criminals paying as little as 20 cents to as much as $15 for verified credentials across the dark market. That’s the latest from RSA Security LLC, a data-security company. The Bedford, Mass.-based firm released the 2018 Cybercriminal Shopping List Tuesday, …

Despite all the talk about mobile payments, online payments, cryptocurrencies, and EMV chip cards, the alternatives to cash still haven’t killed their sworn enemy. In fact, between 2006 and 2016, the growth of currency in circulation matched or exceeded growth in gross domestic product in 40 of 42 nations examined …

Richard Cordray, the only person so far to serve as director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced Wednesday that he will resign by month’s end. The widely anticipated move casts uncertainty over the CFPB’s future, including its policies on electronic payments. “For President Trump, it will be yet …

The Clearing House’s much-anticipated real-time payments system, dubbed RTP, went live late Monday afternoon, ushering in a new era of faster electronic payments in the United States. The transaction between The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.’s BNY Mellon subsidiary and U.S. Bancorp’s U.S. Bank was completed at 4:59:40 p.m. …

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. confirmed Friday that it will settle its lawsuit against Visa Inc. over EMV debit card transaction routing. That news comes one day after the two leaders in their respective industries settled lawsuits they filed against each other stemming from the massive and still-ongoing credit card interchange litigation …

After suffering a spike in fraud from skimmers on gas pumps earlier this year, fleet-fueling payment specialist WEX Inc. reported Wednesday that fraud losses are falling thanks to its new risk-control systems. “The steps we have taken to reduce losses fraud have started to pay off,” Roberto Simon, chief financial …