Snippets

xxx In Europe mobile-only banks such as n26 and Monzo already use TransferWise to handle transfers. From Fintech takes aim at the steep cost of international money transfers - Special FX . xxx

xxx As yet the newcomers have merely nibbled around the edges. But as incumbents abandon tricky markets, technology improves and financial regulators take aim at unclear pricing, they look set to take a bigger bite. From Fintech takes aim at the steep cost of international money transfers - Special FX . xxx

xxx Lottery bosses have refused to pay out a £4million jackpot to two players who they suspect had bought the ticket with a stolen debit card. Organisers Camelot grew suspicious of Mark Goodram, 36, and Jon-Ross Watson, 31, when it emerged neither of them had a bank account to receive the winnings. From Lottery bosses refuse to pay £4million jackpot over 'stolen debit card' | Daily Mail Online . xxx

xxx "Outside of digital life, however, identity is typically social (for instance, ‘individual’ data such as birthdate is shared with parents) and intersectional (viz., different data and trust are shared with different others)." From "Verifying Identity as a Social Intersection by Nicole Immorlica, Matthew O. Jackson, E. Glen Weyl :: SSRN" . xxx

xxx "People who do not have access to a bank account pay an extra £485 a year for everyday bills and services, research from an account provider suggests. More than 1.2 million Britons do not have a bank account, so miss out on discounts reserved for those who pay bills by direct debit, said Pockit." From "Lack of bank account 'costs £500 extra a year' in bills - BBC News" . xxx xxx Lottery bosses have refused to pay out a £4million jackpot to two players who they suspect had bought the ticket with a stolen debit card. Organisers Camelot grew suspicious of Mark Goodram, 36, and Jon-Ross Watson, 31, when it emerged neither of them had a bank account to receive the winnings. From Lottery bosses refuse to pay £4million jackpot over 'stolen debit card' | Daily Mail Online .   xxx

xxx "Remittances to low and middle-income countries reached a record high last year, the World Bank has said. Average transaction costs remain high, with an average of 7 percent paid to transfer $200 or equivalent." From "Remittances Reach All-Time High | Best Exchange Rates - Save" . xxx

xxx "The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is planning to implement biometric exit technology in almost all commercial airports in the next four years." From "U.S. Government to Roll Out Facial Recognition Software in Most Airports in Four Years | TravelPulse" . xxxxxx "As of September 2018, there were only 15 U.S. airports with this facial-recognition technology, and of those 15 airports, this technology has been used on over two million passengers with 7,000 of those travelers found to have overstayed their visa." From "U.S. Government to Roll Out Facial Recognition Software in Most Airports in Four Years | TravelPulse" . xxx

xxx "Customers get a Mastercard debit card, money management tools, mobile cheque deposits, P2P transfers and the ability to pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. However, the firm is not just relying on a slick user experience to win people over, it is also offering eligible Un-carrier customers four per cent Annual Percentage Yield on balances up to $3000 - 50 times higher than the average US checking account." From "T-Mobile takes on US banks with checking account" . xxx

xxx "The use of cash by criminals however, remains one of the biggest threats reported by Law Enforcement in the area of money laundering, as well as one of the most significant barriers to successful investigations and prosecution." From "Why is cash still a king? A strategic Report on the use of cash by Criminal groups as a facilitator for money laundering | Europol" . Not my words. These are the words of Rob Wainwright, the Director of Europol.

A large hoard of cash has been found at the home of Sudan's ousted president Omar al-Bashir. "A source in Sudan's judiciary told Reuters news agency that suitcases loaded with more than $351,000, €6m ($6.7m; £5.2m) and five billion Sudanese pounds ($105m) were found at Mr Bashir's home." From "Sudan crisis: Cash hoard found at al-Bashir's home - BBC News" . Who knew that a life in public service could be so rewarding? 

xxx "Supporters won’t be able to use cash within the New White Hart Lane or in its surrounding campus, only major contactless credit and debit cards, mobile and wearable payment, Gift Cards, Stadium Access Cards and the Tottenham Hotspur Prepaid Card, which is coming soon…. The team cite their three main reasons for the bizarre move as increased speed, more payment options and improved hygiene within the stadium concourse." From ""This isn't helpful" - Many Spurs fans react to intriguing stadium announcement | FootballFanCast.com - FootballFanCast.com" . xxx

xxx "With 97% of shoppers relying on online customer reviews to help make a purchase, fake reviews are a serious problem, which can mislead customers into buying products that are not fit for purpose. The CMA estimates that £23 billion a year of UK consumer spending is potentially influenced by online reviews." From "Revealed: Amazon plagued with thousands of ‘fake’ five-star reviews – Which? Press Office" . xxx xxx Asad Malik, 38, used fake reviews and photographs of secure car parks hundreds of miles away to trick customers into leaving their vehicles with him when they flew from Gatwick. From Airport parking boss jailed for dumping cars in muddy fields .   xxx

xxx "Facebook is pulling away from its ambitions to provide peer-to-peer money transfers via Messenger in Europe. Today, the company announced that it would be discontinuing the service — which let individuals send money to each other — in the two countries in the region where it had rolled it out, the U.K. and France, on June 15 of this year." From "Facebook is discontinuing P2P payments in Messenger in the UK and France on June 15 | TechCrunch" . xxx

xxx "Evidence from Norway indicates that in 2007, 40 percent of Norwegian adults checked somebody’s tax information online, higher than the penetration of Facebook in Norway. Anonymity of the snooper was removed in 2014, and visits fell dramatically (88 percent by one measure), but still you can imagine paying others to snoop for you or the information eventually getting out over time." From "Tax Returns Shouldn't Be Filed in Public - Bloomberg" . xxx

Bundesbank, which now calls for a European alternative for Apple Pay and Google Pay "der Bundesbank an, die nun eine europäische Alternative für Apple Pay und Google Pay fordert." From "Apple Pay und Google Pay: Bundesbank will europäische Alternative" . xxx

xxx Although both my bank and credit card provider swiftly cancelled the stolen cards, reassuring me that no one had emptied my account or used up my credit facility, and saying they would issue new ones, it now means I am temporarily cashless. From Cashless society? Fine... until you lose your wallet as our Personal Finance editor found out | Daily Mail Online . xxx

xxx The Chinese have, to an extent, leapfrogged the credit and debit card revolution that overtook advanced economies in the last century, with most of new adopters using mobile technology to go cashless… almost two-thirds of online sales and more than one third of payments in stores were now made through leading mobile wallet operators including Alipay and WeChat Pay. From China's march to be the world's first cashless society: China Daily contributor, East Asia News & Top Stories - The Straits Times . xxx

xxx Losses due to ATM related physical attacks were €36 million, a 16% increase from the €31 million reported during 2017… These figures do not take into account collateral damage to equipment or buildings, which can be significant and often exceeds the value of the cash lost in successful attacks. From ATM Physical Attacks in Europe on the increase | Secure Transactions . xxx

xxx Now Business Minister Heather Humphreys has warned that there are fears that ATMs might have to be removed from the streets of in rural towns and villages. From ATMs might have to be taken off the streets after cash machine raids, Business Minister Heather Humphreys warns - Irish Mirror Online . xxx

xxx According to the report obtained by the Associated Press, as many as 17.5 million ticket purchases were blocked last year for “social credit offenses” such as unpaid taxes or fines. Other would-be travelers were barred from purchasing train tickets as many as 5.5 million times and according to an annual report from the National Public Credit Information Center, as many as 138 people were stopped from leaving the country. From China’s Social Credit System Barred Millions from Traveling in 2018 . xxx

xxx However, forcing store owners to deal in cash restricts their ability to design the shopping experience as they see fit and may saddle them with unwanted financial and security costs. From The War on Cashless Stores | AIER . xxx

xxx Prepaid cards are no panacea, however. Anti-money-laundering regulations have placed a limit on the size of anonymous debit cards, which means that it is difficult to buy cards with a face value in excess of $250. And fees can be high. To activate my $25 Vanilla MasterCard debit card, I recently had to pay a whopping $3.95, which amounts to a whopping 15.8 percent fee. From The War on Cashless Stores | AIER . xxx

xxx In the years since the crisis, global shadow banks have seen their assets grow to $52 trillion, a 75% jump from the level in 2010, the year after the crisis ended. From Shadow banking is now a $52 trillion industry and posing risks . xxx

xxx Incumbent banks should not rely on central banks to come to their aid should the financial landscape become disrupted by new payment service providers, one of Europe’s senior central bank officials has warned. Speaking alongside a panel of experts at the Spring World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings on April 10, Benoît Cœuré said the European Central Bank was “not in the business of helping banks”. From Central banks will not rescue firms from future of payments – ECB’s Cœuré - Central Banking . xxx

xxx Asad Malik, 38, used fake reviews and photographs of secure car parks hundreds of miles away to trick customers into leaving their vehicles with him when they flew from Gatwick. From Airport parking boss jailed for dumping cars in muddy fields . xxx

xxx Denmark is ignoring a request by the European Central Bank and moving to ban 500-euro notes, as the Nordic country toughens defenses against money launderers. From Denmark Ignores ECB to Ban 500-Euro Note in Dirty Money Battle - Bloomberg . Yay! Go Denmark! There really is no excuse for printing such high value notes in the modern world. Perhaps it was once a reasonable aspiration to displace the $100 bills stuffed into drug dealers’ mattresses with €500 bills and thus redirect the proceeds of crime (the seigniorage earned on those bills) from the Fed to the ECB, but no more.

xxx An exhaustive report by the RAND Corporation concludes that cryptocurrency is less than ideal for terrorist organizations. Cash is still king for terrorists, for a variety of reasons, including the liquidity barriers that regulation and legalization of cryptocurrencies are presenting. From Terrorists Prefer Cash Over Cryptocurrency, Even Privacy Coins: Report . xxx

xxx at present, terrorist use of cryptocurrencies is more likely to help the government than hinder it. From Terrorists Prefer Cash Over Cryptocurrency, Even Privacy Coins: Report . xxx

xxx Since 2006, the production costs for the cent and 5-cent coin have exceeded their face value, From GAO report cites cost savings for U.S. coin alloys | Coin World . xxx

xxx The Mint’s research has concluded that, while alternatives are possible for the 5-cent coin composition, none is identified that would bring the cost of cent production below one cent. From GAO report cites cost savings for U.S. coin alloys | Coin World . xxx

xxx For FY 2017, the Mint lost $27.3 million from the combined production at the Denver and Philadelphia Mints of 8.4 billion cents. From GAO report cites cost savings for U.S. coin alloys | Coin World . xxx

xxx In FY 2017, the cost to strike a 5-cent coin was 6.6 cents, which would have dropped to 6.4 cents had the alloy been 80/20 copper-nickel, and 5.9 cents if the Mint opted for an alloy of copper, nickel, manganese and zinc. From GAO report cites cost savings for U.S. coin alloys | Coin World . xxx

xxx Orange has become the first company in the world to display on its web-pages a blockchain-secured digital trust label that allows one-click verification of the authenticity and source of online content From Orange Launches Blockchain-based Platform to Fight Fake News . xxx

xxx The end of cash could arrive alarmingly quickly as bank branches close, more shops refuse to accept notes and coins and the cost of handling traditional currency spirals, the Bank of England has warned. Urgent action needs to be taken to find an economical way of serving people who still want to use cash before it is too late and swathes of the country lose access to physical money almost by accident, according to chief cashier Sarah John. From Cash could disappear as more shops shun notes and coins, warns Bank of England . xxx

xxx For TurnKey’s planned token sale, the company agreed to build the platform before issuing any tokens for it, to diminish the suggestion of speculative investment; the token can only be exchanged among wallets on its platform; and each token is sold at $1 and redeemable for $1 worth of air charter services. From No Rush to No-Action Letters — The Information . In other words, they will be creating a closed electronic money scheme.

xxx Philadelphia’s new law includes some slight deviations from New Jersey’s model. For example, retailers selling to customers through a membership model like Costco do not fall within the scope of the legislation. Additionally, retailers where credit card holds are required for incidentals, such as rental-car companies and hotels, will not be required to accept cash (ironically, a 1984 Pennsylvania law was passed to protect unbanked consumers from this very practice – the Cash Consumer Protection Act reads, “it shall be unlawful for any person to refuse to rent or sell property or services to any individual for the reason that the individual does not possess a credit card”). To the benefit of several large e-commerce retailers, Philadelphia’s law also exempts “transactions at retail stores selling consumer goods exclusively through a membership model that requires payment by means of an affiliated mobile device application.” From Mandatory Cash Acceptance Update – Philadelphia Leg

xxx What is more likely - 1. a hacker takes the time and effort to gain entry to this specific individual's email account in the hope that one day they would one day carry out a very large transfer or 2. a hacker targets a conveyancing firm, knowing that they handle a large volume of high value transfers regularly and probably don't have the best security/outdated protection from a spoof attack? From Will anyone take responsibility for rising financial fraud? | Financial Times . xxx

xxx If there is one topic that makes my blood boil, this is it. Fraudsters stole £1.2bn in 2018, according to the latest data from trade body UK Finance — a 16 per cent increase on the £967m scammed the year before. From Will anyone take responsibility for rising financial fraud? | Financial Times . xxx

xxx "Starting this Sunday, March 10, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium will stop accepting cash for all sporting events" From "Mercedes-Benz Stadium Will Become First Pro Sports Venue To Go Cashless" . xxx

xxx "Mercedes-Benz Stadium is only a year and a half old and has already hosted a Super Bowl, this past February. Before the last NFL season, it broke away from the norm by significantly lowering food and merchandise prices in-stadium, providing the lowest prices in the entire National Football League (NFL). The AMB Group, which owns and operates the stadium, continues to implement their progressive ideas and the Atlanta Falcons will become the first team in the NFL to adopt a completely cashless transactional model.  While hot dogs will only cost their fans $1.50 at the venue, a fraction of the cost at other venues, fans will only be able to pay digitally, as cash will no longer be accepted." From "Mercedes-Benz Stadium Will Become First Pro Sports Venue To Go Cashless" . xxx

xxx "In one paper, Redmiles looked at whether users make rational decisions about whether to use security protections like two-factor authentication to protect a fictional bank account. ‘Low-SES (Socioeconomic status) and low-skill users have much higher costs to doing something like two factor authentication,’ she says. ‘For the least resourced users, sometimes security/privacy is just too time-intensive.’" From "Exclusive: Google asked 5,600 employees about remote work. This is what they learned" . xxx

xxx "‘I get valuable government benefits in my mortgage home deduction, childcare tax credits, my employer health benefits aren’t taxed,’ says Gilman. ‘Those are income transfers just as much as food stamps or welfare but I am not put through intrusive questioning, verification requirements, home visits, or anything like that to get those benefits.’" From "Exclusive: Google asked 5,600 employees about remote work. This is what they learned" . Privacy as a class issue. I guess I hadn’t thought about this enough before. Perhaps privacy, like cashlessness, is more related to class than I had really thought.

xxx "Bank of Ireland has defended its charges and fees where customers pay one cent per contactless card payment and ten cents for chip and PIN transactions." From "Bank of Ireland defends customer fees and charges" . xxx

xxx "But there may be a solution to protect against fake drivers with criminal intent — or, for that matter, to protect the drivers against fake passengers. Specifically, one of Josephson's classmates, Sydney Ford, is lobbying for Uber and Lyft to add QR codes to their apps that would easily match a driver to a passenger as the passenger approached. So far, nearly 23,000 people have signed the petition on Change.org to add those QR codes, and it's growing hourly." From "Classmate of woman who was found dead asks Uber, Lyft to add QR codes - Business Insider" . xxx

xxx All drinks, snacks, and team merchandise at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have to be purchased by apps like Apple Pay or on a card. From Scoring With Apple Pay: Tottenham Hotspur Prepare to Open Doors at First Fully Cashless Stadium - The Mac Observer . xxx

xxx The Cabinet Thursday approved the promulgation of an Ordinance to allow voluntary use of Aadhaar as identity proof for opening bank account and procuring mobile phone connection From Aadhaar: Cabinet approves Aadhaar Ordinance to allow its use as ID proof for bank accounts, SIM connection . xxx

xxx This, I think, is the kind of architecture that Cambridge Blockchain explained to me when I bumped in them last year and it seems a reasonable starting point, congruent with our ideas about the kinds of transactions that might be entered into a shared ledger. From Putting “identity” on the “blockchain”. Part 1: Find a problem | Consult Hyperion . xxx

xxx "In Australia, the note of choice for hoarding and bulk cash smuggling is the A$100 note, known affectionately as ‘the Melba’ (the note features the face of operatic legend Dame Nellie Melba). In Australia, there is A$76 billion in near-indestructible polymer banknotes in circulation. That equates to around A$3,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. This raises the question: where are Australia’s missing ‘Melbas’?" From "Dark economy: Inside the $76 billion mystery of Australia's missing 'Melbas'​ | LinkedIn" . xxx