Insights Archive

December 22, 2021

EuReCa! European AML/CTF Database Unveiled

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has revealed more details about its central database on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) in the EU, a key tool for coordinating efforts to counter illicit finance in the bloc.

December 22, 2021

Pandora’s Box And The Biggest AML Trends in 2021

2021 has tested the anti-money laundering (AML) regimes of world economies, shedding light on gaps in the existing frameworks and forcing legislators to cast the net wider to fight the flow of illicit money.

December 22, 2021

First ACHs Move Technical Accounts To TIPS

In a major milestone for instant payments across the EU, the European Central Bank has announced the first wave of automated clearing houses (ACH) to move their technical accounts to its low-value instant settlement system.

December 22, 2021

Study Shows Surge in Older Online Gamblers During Pandemic

Hundreds of thousands more people over 65 in the UK are gambling online than at the start of the pandemic, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said.

December 22, 2021

2021: The Year Indian Gaming Joined The Sports Betting Gold Rush

As uncertain as the future of the Seminole Compact may be, this historic gambling agreement in Florida marked the end of tribal ambivalence toward sports betting and the consequences for both Indian and commercial gaming promise to be seismic.

December 22, 2021

NSW Crime Commission To Probe Slots Money Laundering

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state crime commission and the state’s gaming watchdog have announced a joint inquiry into slot machine money laundering, just weeks after a government investigator flagged large-scale washing of funds in pubs and clubs.

December 21, 2021

Green Finance Data Of Growing Interest To Central Banks, Says Study

Central banks are increasingly assessing sustainable finance in pursuing their core mandates, a survey by the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics has found.

December 21, 2021

Buy Now, Pay Later, 2021’s Booming Old-New Payment Trend

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) has grown to be one of the biggest trends in payments in 2021. VIXIO reviews the changes the booming market experienced in 2021 and how market participants and regulators reacted to these opportunities and risks.

December 21, 2021

A Warning Shot Across The Bow - J.P. Morgan Pays $125m After Using WhatsApp To Do Securities Business

J.P. Morgan has agreed to pay a steep $125m fine to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to keep records of WhatsApp messages that included securities business communications.

December 21, 2021

Greek Online Revenues On Track To Exceed £700m In 2021

Greece's newly licensed online market buoyed up the whole country's gambling industry in 2021, which grew fractionally year-on-year despite a nationwide lockdown that shuttered the land-based sector until May.

December 21, 2021

Illinois Gambling Lobbyist Who Opposed Casino Expansion Retires

Most gambling lobbyists are paid to advocate for the industry's expansion, but the head of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association spent almost all of his 20-year career battling legislators bent on saturating his state's market to increase tax revenue.

December 20, 2021

Learning from 2021 Regulatory Changes — Insight for 2022 and Beyond

This piece will look back at two notable and ongoing events: Brexit changes and the effect on payment service providers (PSPs) of reforms at the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Germany’s financial regulator. It will relook at how these issues developed in 2021, and will seek to understand how these issues are likely to affect PSPs in 2022 and beyond.

December 20, 2021

Revolut Scores Full EU Banking Licence

The British-headquartered fintech has been granted a full banking licence from the European Central Bank.

December 20, 2021

Weak Automated AML Procedures Cost HSBC £64m

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has fined HSBC Bank £63,946,800 after finding failures in the bank’s automated processes that monitored hundreds of millions of transactions on a monthly basis.

December 20, 2021

Cardageddon Or An Easy Ride? One Year Into SCA

Strong customer authentication (SCA) was the final compliance requirement to be borne out of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and, one year in, it continues to make headlines. Here is our round-up of some of the key events, challenges and voices of the industry that kept SCA in the news in 2021.

December 20, 2021

Chaos' As Ukraine Skips Vote On Tax, Regulators

A vote to solve Ukraine’s gambling commission conflict and reduce its tax burden did not take place last week as planned, forcing ministers to scramble and leaving the industry looking to 2022 for long-term solutions.

December 20, 2021

Seminole Compact Challenge Forces Changes To California Sports-Betting Initiative

A federal judge’s decision to void a gaming compact between the Seminole Tribe and the state of Florida over a provision allowing state-wide mobile sports betting with servers based on tribal lands has prompted a coalition of four California tribes to revise their ballot proposal for online sports wagering.

December 20, 2021

Proposed Dutch Gambling Ban Sits In Minister's Hands

Whether and how the Netherlands imposes a ban on broadcast gambling ads plus restrictions on internet advertising will probably be up to an outgoing minister or his successor.

December 17, 2021

Christmas BNPL Spending Raises Concerns For Irish Consumer Watchdog

With one in three Irish consumers planning on using credit for their Christmas spending this year, Irish authorities have raised alarm bells about the risks of short-term credit, including credit cards and buy now, pay later (BNPL) products.

December 17, 2021

Week In Brief - December 17, 2021

A short roundup of some of the week's payments news you may have missed. This week we look at the UK Payment Systems Regulator's update on SD2 and SD3, the first group of European ACHs' technical account migration to TIPS, the latest U.S. actions concerning consumer privacy, fines in Cyprus, and a new cross-border taskforce set up by the Bank for International Settlement.

December 17, 2021

Update: U.S. Senator Offers Alternative To Bank-Like Stablecoin Regulation

In contrast to an interagency report that seeks to bring stablecoin issuers under bank-like regulations, a U.S. Republican Senator would allow stablecoin issuers to choose from three regulatory regimes based on their business models.