Investigative work by the New York Times revealed that lawmakers in at least six states have worked directly with crypto lobbyists to draft legislation. Some bills copy-paste wording directly from lobbyists’ proposals.
Read MoreIn a letter to Wells Fargo, the New York City government said it won’t open new Wells Fargo depository accounts. It follows accusations that the bank discriminates against Black homeowners.
Read MoreThe PAVE report could drastically change how homes are bought and sold in the U.S. and address a long history of discrimination against minority homeowners—especially if PAVE’s recommendations are codified into law. That’s a big if when Congress has a hard time agreeing on, well, almost anything.
Read MoreThe National Payments Corporation of India, which maintains the country’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), released a voluntary statement saying it did not know of any crypto exchange using UPI. This came after Coinbase announced its launch in the country featuring UPI support.
Read MoreInternal memos suggest Meta, which owns Facebook, has plans to add virtual coins, tokens, and lending to its apps. This includes “social” or “reputation” tokens that reward substantive contributions to Facebook groups.
Read MoreYesterday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated two counts in an antitrust suit against Visa related to its debit card fees for payment processing networks. The plaintiff, Pulse Network LLC, argues that Visa’s fixed monthly fees for using its debit network encouraged payments processors to favor Visa over other card networks.
Read MoreThe rideshare giant said it will soon add plane, train, and rental-car booking to its app in the U.K. It also said it may scale these services beyond the U.K. if the new services gain traction.
Read MoreThe financial giant said it would temporarily halt public offerings through special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). It’s concerned about increased oversight into SPACs from the SEC, which has yet to solidify specific guidelines.
Read MoreLaunched on March 23 by Egypt’s central bank, InstaPay permits electronic transfers from accounts belonging to different banks. 13 banks currently use the app and run on its Instant Payment Network (IPN).
Read MoreEuropean Union lawmakers have voted to apply AML regulations to crypto, while also requiring ID verification for payers and recipients of any amount of cryptocurrency. The E.U. may also cut off unregulated crypto exchanges from financial systems if they fail to comply.
Read MoreItaly’s central bank has banned N26, the Germany-based neobank giant, from onboarding new customers or offering new products. Italian regulators have flagged N26 for its weak AML procedures.
Read MoreBoth payments processors had previously announced that that they would stop doing business in Russia. But their cards still work within the country, because Visa and Mastercard were forced to switch to Russia’s domestic payments-processing system in 2015.
Read MoreAccording to the Financial Health Network, more than 70% of pay-advance users have taken out several advances in a row. Predatory data collection and obscure cash-limit algorithms further affect consumers within this $12B industry.
Read MoreThe Chinese tech giant said it is looking into whether Chinese regulators will force it to house its financial businesses in a holding company. Two financial holding company licenses have recently been issued in the country.
Read MoreAn interagency panel, the Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity task force, released a plan for addressing discrimination in the appraisal industry. The group first convened last summer.
Read MoreThe Financial Revolutionist is weekly newsletter and blog focused on the torrid pace of financial innovation. Today, thanks to the exponential rate of technological change, explosion in global trade and new regulations ushered in by the Great Financial Crisis, a new financial revolution is under way. In this battle, virtually every aspect of the greater financial services sector is subject to rigorous challenge. With the Financial Revolutionist, we are aspiring to create a boots-on-the-ground and highly opinionated assessment of important financial innovation developments in the past week.
