Tag: Money Transmitter

CSBS Launches Streamlined State Exams for Nationwide Payments Companies

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) announced last week that it was launching what it called a “state-initiated” program that would enable money transmitters operating in 40 or more states to undergo a single exam to satisfy all state exam requirements in 2021.

OCC Payments Charter in the Works; Ezetap Introduces App for Fine Collection: News Roundup

PaymentFacilitator’s News Roundup is a curated mix of the past week’s news and articles from around the web, including company announcements, global payments news, and other coverage and analysis of topics relevant to payment facilitators.

What is a Money Transmitter?

Improving the merchant experience is a rallying cry for payment facilitators. Streamlining the underwriting and onboarding process is often a first step, but many PFs go further in search of solutions for the unique needs of their industries.

Pennsylvania Decision May Provide Clarity Around Money Transmission for Payment Facilitators

A recent decision by a Pennsylvania appeals court may help provide some clarity around the question of when a payment facilitator is a money transmitter.

Vision 2020: Favorable for PFs with 23 States Signing on For Licensing Agreement

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and its Fintech Industry Advisory Panel created a plan back in 2017 to develop a consistent framework for regulating non-bank entities across states. They called it Vision 2020. And as 2020 starts to sneak up on us at what seems to be a rapid pace, the momentum continues towards this common goal.

Money Transmission in the Payment Facilitator Model

The payment facilitator model continues to grow in popularity in the merchant acquiring space as a way to board merchants quickly and with minimal friction. While there are many benefits to this model, payment facilitators and their sponsoring banks and processors should be aware of the potential money transmission risks.

In Seven States, Money Transmitter Licensing Just Got a Little Easier

Trying to get all 50 states to do anything exactly the same way may be an exercise in futility. But agreement on at least some things could still provide some relief for payment facilitators who are burdened with navigating the state-by-state patchwork of money transmitter licensing.

Opinion: States Have Potential to Transform the Regulatory Landscape for Payments

Policymakers in D.C. and across the country are looking at the modern payments industry with an eye towards regulating it, taxing it, or increasing their cost of doing business. Now is the time for industry officials to work with policymakers to shape good public policy.

One area state policymakers are examining is money transmitter laws. Regulations on money transmitters are changing rapidly and are changing how the payments industry operates.

Washington State’s Disappearing New Money Transmitter Rules

On Monday (Dec. 14), the Washington state Department of Financial Institutions said that it was about to change the ways payment processors can get waivers from money transmission licensing requirements. The changes were to kick in Jan. 1. But by Wednesday (Dec. 16), the page with the announcement had vanished, instead displaying a “page not found” error. A search on the state DFI site still returns the page during a search. (Guys, if you’re going to hide a page, don’t forget to clear cache and remove it from site search results. Geez, do we have to tell you everything about hiding stuff from the public?) Fortunately, we copied the text of the page before it disappeared.

Giving processors a mechanism to not being considered a money transmitter is ostensibly a good thing. But like everything else that touches state and federal regulatory efforts, few good things ship without booby-traps. Deana Rich, president of Rich Consulting and also Partner/Director of Strategy for PaymentFacilitator.com, said the risk is not mostly with the state issuing the rules—Washington state in this case—but with other states and how they may choose to interpret that waiver request. “If you say to one state ‘I want to be exempt from your rules,’ other states might say, ‘Hmmmm. Why did you say this to Washington? I’m going to look at you much more carefully now,'” Rich said.