A broad swath of consumer financial services firms, including financial technology providers, could find themselves on a public registry if they run afoul of state and federal consumer protection statutes. This would be under a new plan proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB was given federal oversight authority for nonbank financial firms under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.
However, many of these firms can also find themselves on the receiving end of orders handed down by state, local and even other federal consumer protection agencies (like the Federal Trade Commission) or in the form of court orders. It is these orders that the CFPB wants to keep track of and publish using an online registry. The proposal, which clocks in at 212 pages, would also require large nonbank financial services firms supervised by CFPB to designate senior executives responsible for submitting annual written statements attesting to steps taken to comply with any orders. NRF 2023 notes resilience, shifting preferences The National Retail Federation's annual conference and expo, NRF 2023: Retail's Big Show, drew 15,900 industry professionals and 6,100 retailers to New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center for three days of keynotes, panels, live demos and networking. Held Jan. 15 to 17, 2023, the show featured multiple stages and exhibit hall presentations, all focused on challenges and opportunities on retail's near-term road map.
Throughout the conference, leading retail and technology brands released a stream of press releases, surveys and research, including a statement from NRF CEO and President Matthew Shay, who disclosed that the show will expand into Asia Pacific with an inaugural APAC event to be held in Singapore from June 11 to 13, 2024.
"NRF is proud to expand the footprint of Retail's Big Show by bringing all the power and reach of our New York show to Asia-Pacific, one of the world's fastest-growing markets with limitless opportunities in retail," Shay said.
Year-end holiday sales were not as robust as some had predicted, but overall growth was still a respectable 5.3 percent over 2021. In all, retail shoppers spent $936.3 billion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022, the National Retail Federation reported. Separately, the CRM giant Salesforce reported that global online sales topped $1.14 trillion during the 2022 holiday season, and $270 billion in the United States, driven largely by consumers who made online purchases and picked up their merchandise at brick-and-mortar stores.
"The last two years of retail sales have been unprecedented, and no one ever thought it was sustainable," said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. "Nonetheless, we closed out 2022 with impressive annual sales and a respectable holiday season despite historic levels of inflation and interest rate hikes to cool the economy."
In light of recent disclosures of another T-Mobile cyberattack, security analysts are openly wondering if U.S. policymakers will borrow a page from the European Union Commission’s Cyber Resilience Act. Enacted Jan. 18, 2023, the measure aims to protect connected devices against pervasive cybersecurity attacks, the EU Commission stated. The new regulation holds manufacturers, distributors and service providers accountable for device and network security, imposing fines of up to 15 million euros or 2.5 percent of annual revenues to non-compliant parties, noted Jan Wendenburg, CEO of the cybersecurity company ONEKEY.
"The pressure on the industry – manufacturers, distributors and importers—is growing immensely,” he stated. “The EU will implement this regulation without compromise, even though there are still some work packages to be done, for example regarding local country authorities." Noting that ransomware attacks occur every 11 seconds, the EU cited numerous German firms affected by this trend.
A group of big banks reportedly has begun work on a new mobile wallet to compete with the likes of PayPal and Venmo. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and four other banks are developing a digital wallet that online shoppers can link with their debit and credit cards. The as-yet unnamed digital wallet will be managed by Early Warning Services LLC, the bank-own technology firm that already operates the Zelle person-to-person payment network.
Meanwhile, a report released Jan. 24 found that a significant number of Americans prefer plastic cards to digital wallets. About half of consumers surveyed last fall by J.D. Power (48 percent) said physical credit and debit cards are easier to use than wallet apps on their smartphones. Early Warning—which is owned by Capital One, PNC Bank, Truist and U.S. Bank, in addition to BofA, Chase and Wells—is said to be readying the new digital wallet for rollout during the second half of this year.
Chargebacks remain a danger in the post-pandemic era, according to recent reports, and merchants are fighting back with automated and AI-powered technologies. In addition to their agile response times, these solutions can handle high volumes of disputes and inquiries and zero in on small-dollar transactions in a more cost-effective manner than their human counterparts, security experts have noted.
Monica Eaton, founder of Chargebacks911 and Fi911, saw fraud explode during the pandemic, when consumers and merchants shifted to ecommerce. She said the current climate shows no sign of slowing down. If anything, she noted, fraudsters are doubling down on activities as banks struggle to stay a step ahead. "The fraud explosion during the pandemic hurts banks, merchants and customers," Eaton said.
"Now banks are over-correcting, and the result is harming vendors who aren't getting paid for valid sales. The dispute process for those merchants is challenging, with no guarantee of success." In the pandemic's aftermath, ecommerce transactions continue to spike, noted the CNBC Technology Executive Council, which observed online banking and credit card fraud rising to historic levels. 
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