#mobilepaymentlaws

“The paradigm for governance of payment systems going forward should a division between (1) private law and public-private partnerships that handle systemic matters of operation, and (2) public law focused on protecting payment system end-users from oppression, fraud, and mistake. This general demarcation of lawmaking responsibilities has the greatest track record of success and is most capable of dealing with a foreseeable future of payments that is filled with unforeseeable innovations.”

Mobile Remitter: Mobile Payment companies face a high risk of patent litigation lawsuits, they also have a number of defenses available to them, including the covered business method review procedure (CMB) at the Patent Office as well as 35 U.S.C Section 101 challenges based on lack of patentable subject matter.

"MasterCard is once again teaming with the PGA Tour to bring mobile payments to an event, this time at The Barclays in Edison, New Jersey. Concession point-of-sale terminals throughout Plainfield Country Club at this weekend's Tour stop will be enabled to accept contactless payments and Qkr! with MasterPass. In addition, fans who use their MasterCard with one of these payment options will get a 10 percent discount on their purchase."

"China’s $90 billion mobile payments industry might soon face a nasty roadbump. On Friday the People’s Bank of China issued draft proposal for a new set of laws that could deeply hinder the nation’s booming online finance industry, currently dominated by the web giants Alibaba and Tencent."

“Truly, the common enemy of the payments industry is cash. We want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity, from retailers online to retailers in brick-and-mortar stores, to accept their customers' preferred form of payment.”

“The OCC is an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Its primary mission is to charter, regulate, and supervise all national banks and federal savings associations. It also supervises the federal branches and agencies of foreign banks to ensure that they operate in a safe and sound manner and are in compliance with laws requiring fair treatment of their customers and fair access to credit and financial products. The OCC’s Payment Risk Policy (PRP) group was created in early 2013, as part of the Chief National Bank Examiner’s Operational Risk Division, to provide payments system supervisory guidance and help form a comprehensive view of the payment system, including wholesale (use of centralized payment systems and clearinghouses) and retail (ACH, prepaid, mobile, and digital) payment processes.

The PRP group is also analyzing the mobile payments market and evaluating the need to expand existing guidance to be more risk- and principles-based to encompass the increasing range of technologies, and is working with other financial regulatory agencies to develop consensus on any guidance specific to mobile. PRP generates internal, educational resources for its examiners and senior management. The OCC also recently issued risk management guidance17 for financial institutions (FIs) that use third party service providers in general, but could apply to mobile services as well. In this way, the OCC supports proactive risk management practices by banks. The PRP also wants to develop metrics (e.g., using data from bank reporting, industry publications, and forums) to identify major payments issues and trends in the payments landscape, which will be shared with its banks and contribute to examiner guidance. The OCC will continue to analyze specific rules to determine whether there is a need to expand these rules to incorporate newer payment technologies.”

http://www.bostonfed.org/bankinfo/payment-strategies/publications/2014/summary-of-mpiw-meeting-may-2014.pdf

http://www.paymentlawadvisor.com/files/2014/12/LSI-Tech-Law-Conf-What-to-Expect.pdf

Truth-in-Billing 14: Requires wireless carriers to provide certain billing information to customers. Applies when mobile payment results in charges to mobile phone bill. Wireless carriers must provide clear, correct, and detailed billing information to customers. This includes a description of services provided and charges made.

Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA):

The EFTA Regulation E12 establishes rules for electronic fund transfers (EFTs) involving consumers. Includes any “transaction initiated through an electronic terminal, telephone, computer, or magnetic tape that instructs a financial institution either to credit or debit a consumer’s account.” This includes transactions such as debit card transactions, direct deposits and withdrawals, and automated teller machine (ATM) transactions. The regulation generally applies to financial institutions, but certain provisions apply to “any person.” “Such term includes, but is not limited to, point-of-sale transfers, automated teller machine transactions, direct deposits or withdrawals of funds, and transfers initiated by telephone.”

For Mobile Payment: Applies when the underlying payment is made from a consumer’s account via an EFT. The rule establishes consumer rights to a number of disclosures, notices and error resolution procedures for unauthorized or otherwise erroneous transactions. The disclosures include upfront disclosures regarding, the terms and conditions of the EFT service and how error resolution procedures will work.

The EFTA ACT and applicable sections may be found at: