Law and Regulation

There are still many unknowns, but siding and the roof are on order for the frame of the Federal Reserve’s faster-payments project. That’s the message conveyed Tuesday by Fed officials and payments-industry executives who participated in a years-long effort to speed up U.S. electronic payments as well as make them …

A new unit formed by the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission will have among its responsibilities “violations involving distributed-ledger technology and initial coin offerings,” according to an announcement from the SEClate Monday. What the agency calls its Cyber Unit will also focus on market manipulation via social …

After chastising the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for way it handled itself in its 2015 lawsuit against allegedly fraudulent debt collectors and their payment processors, a federal judge on Friday threw out the CFPB’s claims against the processors. The case is unusual in that Judge Richard W. Story of U.S. …

While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working toward an April 1, 2018, effective date for its massive rule for prepaid accounts, prepaid card industry advocates are urging the agency to further delay the rule by another year. In a comment filed this week with the CFPB, which regulates all …

In a brief filed Aug. 7, the U.S. Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court not to take up an appeal over a lower-court ruling upholding a so-called steering practice by American Express Co. The DoJ, which in 2010 joined 17 states in suing AmEx over the practice, argues …

Never mind that the Democratic administration that created Operation Choke Point is gone, a Republican Congressman wants to be doubly-certain that the controversial program that tries to cut off payment services to fraudulent merchants dies. So he has proposals to kill Operation Choke Point in not one but two bills. In …

A recent report from the U.S. Department of The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shows a sizable increase in the number of banks and credit unions providing financial services to legal marijuana businesses. The numbers might not tell the whole story, however. FinCEN’s latest Marijuana Banking Update, for the …

In the wake of a failed effort to repeal the Durbin Amendment this spring, many banks, networks, lobbying groups, and other repeal advocates are vowing to try again, as are the Congressmen who pushed the original repeal effort. But that doesn’t mean smaller banks, at least, are totally united behind …

Mallory Duncan, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Retail Federation and one of the most outspoken advocates for merchants on payments issues, announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of August. “Whether you’re appealing to the Supreme Court, testifying before Congress or meeting at the …

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a proposal adjusting certain provisions of its massive rule for prepaid accounts and asking for comment on whether the effective date for the rule should be delayed a second time. The proposed adjustments concern requirements for error resolution on unregistered accounts and wider flexibility for credit …