Reflecting on Payments at Year’s End

This is not original content, but I wanted to commemorate the end of an active year in payments.  The Atlanta Fed’s Blog Portals and Rails has a great list, so why reinvent the wheel?:

As the year draws to a close, the Portals and Rails team would like to share its own Top 10 list of major payment-related events that took place in the United States this year.

  1. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized Dodd-Frank 1073 money transfer rules.
  2. The payments industry experienced increased regulatory scrutiny of third-party processors and high-risk business customers.
  3. Major global ATM cash-out fraud attacks—including many U.S. ATMs—totaled $45 million.
  4. FTC issued a proposal to ban telemarketers from using remotely created checks and payment orders.
  5. Debit networks sought a compromise on an EMV interface—while there is little movement on the issuance of EMV cards.
  6. The newly designed $100 bill with additional security features was released.
  7. Several major data breaches occurred, and identity theft occurrences skyrocketed. (Perhaps you are experiencing repercussions from the recent Target breach?)
  8. Cyber Monday online sales were up 17 percent, with phones and tablets representing almost a third of the total.
  9. Virtual currencies received increased public, legislative, and regulatory awareness after the U.S. Department of Justice took action to close down virtual currency operators Liberty Reserve and Silk Road.
  10. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon threw out Regulation II debit card interchange fees and routing rules.

Happy Holidays everyone!