The news was dominated this week by the CFPB announcement yesterday that we finally have proposed rules for open banking in this country. It has been 13 years since the passage of Dodd-Frank but Section 1033 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act has remained dormant until now.
Click the image above to listen to the Twitter Spaces we recorded yesterday with Penny Lee of the Financial Technology Association and Simon Taylor of Fintech Brain Food and Sardine.
Here are the top five news stories in fintech this week:
- CFPB Proposes Rule to Accelerate Open Banking from Fintech Nexus – CFPB Director Chopra gave prepared remarks yesterday with the announcement of the open banking proposed rules where he said, “Many consumer finance markets are structured in ways that don’t allow consumers to exercise their power.” This is at the core of the new rules. Chopra wants the power back in the hands of consumers and as this plays out it is going to have a dramatic impact on the future of banking and fintech.
- JPMorgan and Mastercard Pay-By-Bank Tool Goes Live from PYMNTS – The pay-by-bank movement keeps heating up. While we wait for Paze to launch, JPMorgan has decided to partner with Mastercard on a new pay-by-bank initiative. The interesting piece about this product is that it uses Mastercard’s Smart Payment Decisioning Tools to analyze payment behavior so merchants can maximize their chances of being paid.
- New York Attorney General Sues Crypto Firms in $1 Billion Fraud Case from The New York Times – While the SBF trial drags on there was more crypto legal news from New York this week. The NY attorney general has accused Gemini, Genesis, and Digital Currency Group of misleading investors in a $1 billion fraud scheme. Ouch. The legal challenges keep mounting for crypto companies.
- Fed to Propose Lowering Debit-Card Swipe Fees from The Wall Street Journal – The Fed set debit card fees in 2011 to 21 cents plus 0.05% of the transaction amount. The Fed has the power to lower the rate cap if it determines that costs have been reduced. The Supreme Court is even looking at a case that might force the Fed to lower these costs. This is not good news for those fintech companies that rely on debit interchange as a major source of revenue.
- Plaid taps former Expedia exec as its new chief financial officer, says ‘no timeline’ for IPO from TechCrunch – I must admit I didn’t realize that Plaid had no CFO until I heard this news. Now, they have an experienced CFO who has spent several years at Expedia. With a CFO hiring, the rumors, of course, started flying about a potential Plaid IPO but the company has no plans at this time, stating it “will be a milestone we consider at some point but no timeline to share.”
Podcasts This Week
Fintech One-on-One – Itzik Cohen, CEO and Co-Founder of PayZen.
Fintech Coffee Break – Matt Homer, Managing Member, The Department of XYZ.
Fintech Blueprint – Nassim Eddequiouaq and Riyaz Faizullabhoy, Co-Founders of Bastion.
