#PaymentsCompliance Notebook

#US Senators Propose Big Tech Law

US Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MS) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC)?have introduced?comprehensive legislation that would rein in big tech by establishing a new commission to regulate online platforms.

“For too long, giant #tech companies have exploited #consumersdata, invaded Americans’ privacy, threatened our national security, and stomped out competition in our economy,” said Senator Warren.?

“This bipartisan bill would create a new tech regulator and makes clear that reining in big tech platforms is a top priority on both sides of the aisle.”

The Digital Consumer Protection Commission Act would create an independent, bipartisan regulator charged with policing the biggest tech platforms, such as Meta, Apple, Google and Amazon.

The commission would be responsible for overseeing and enforcing the new statutory provisions in the bill and implementing rules to promote competition, protect privacy, protect consumers and strengthen US national security. It would have concurrent jurisdiction with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice.

#UK And #Singapore Enhance Cooperation On #Fintech

Innovation, fintech and sustainable finance were high on the agenda at the eighth UK-Singapore financial dialogue summit, which was attended by regulators such as HM Treasury, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) .

The UK and Singapore have now agreed to contribute to efforts to develop global regulatory standards for #crypto and #digitalassets as part of international standard setting bodies such as the International Organization of Securities Commissions - IOSCO , and working groups under the Financial Stability Board (FSB) .?

The two jurisdictions also welcomed FSB recommendations on crypto-assets including stablecoins.

The UK and Singapore regulators noted “a productive discussion” on their respective approaches towards central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) with the UK updating on the “digital pound” consultation and plans for the current design phase.?

Singapore meanwhile shared its approach towards exploring use cases for a digital Singapore dollar and efforts that are being undertaken to foster interoperability.?

Both countries also agreed on “the urgent need” to develop approaches that facilitate and scale financing to support the transition of economies to net zero.

“The UK and Singapore agreed that globally comparable and transparent transition plans that include credible forward-looking information can help reduce fragmentation, scale transition finance, and support sustainability in finance more generally.”

Both countries also stated that they recognise the value of increased regulatory cooperation on transition plans to mobilise real economy emission reductions.

Incomplete Payments Pile Up As Co-op Bank Responds To Outage

The UK’s The Co-operative Bank plc was down for at least three hours last Thursday (July 27) due to a system outage that left payments and balances unresponsive.

The bank, which has over 3m customers in the UK,?said?it was “working at pace” to resolve the issue on Thursday morning. Three hours later it?announced?that all of its services are “running as normal” and customers are able to “access their accounts and make payments”.?

However, customers continued to complain that attempted payments were being rejected, and that the Co-operative Bank app was either failing to open or was showing incorrect balances.

One customer?complained?as late as Sunday (July 30) that her app would not open, and that all she could see was?a message?saying: “Something’s not right. You have been logged out for security reasons.”