Fintech Nexus Newsletter

Caitlin Long, the CEO and founder of Custodia Bank, has been fighting for access to the Fed payments system for many years. Custodia first applied for a Fed master account in October 2020. After her application was endlessly delayed, she sued the Fed to review her application. They eventually did and ruled against her. So, she sued the Federal Reserve again.

In lieu of a solution that stops the crimes from happening in the first place, bank reimbursement is the only source of protection.

Fraud is going to be top of mind for all financial institutions in 2024. Banks and fintechs alike are constant targets of fraud attacks. It was interesting to read this morning about the experience of Regions Bank when it comes to check fraud.

There are big changes coming to the world of interchange. Today, in a historic settlement, Visa and Mastercard have agreed to cap card interchange fees as they seek to end a legal fight that has spanned almost two decades.

Yesterday, there was a lot of talk about the Department of Justice’s anti-trust lawsuit against Apple. Simon Taylor called it the “biggest thing in fintech since Visa/Plaid.” American Banker gave us a history of the battles between banks and Apple over the years. And TechCrunch had no less than six articles covering this development.

In Congress, anything that helps small businesses typically comes with bipartisan support. But section 1071 of Dodd-Frank is a little complicated.

While it is not yet a wave, fintech consolidation is starting to pick up. And yesterday we learned of another deal, this one in the investing space. While this deal was telegraphed a few months ago there was an official announcement yesterday. Leading investment fintech Yieldstreet is acquiring the real estate platform Cadre.

Yesterday, the OCC issued new guidance for banks, addressing the risks of buy now pay later lending. The guidance focused on the popular "pay in 4" segment of BNPL.  Not surprisingly, the national bank regulator recommended tight oversight of third-party servicers, the importance of transparent loan terms and fraud mitigation.

Bhardwaj had reportedly held senior technology positions at various large banks including Citi, Fifth Third and Huntington. The trouble is those banks had no records of Bhardwaj ever being an employee let alone a senior technology executive.

The CFPB continues its attack on all kinds of junk fees charged by banks. This time they are targeting credit card late fees.