In the latest episode of Payments Pros, hosts Keith Barnett, Josh McBeain, and Carlin McCrory discuss Earned Wage Access (EWA), a system that allows employees to receive their earned wages before the employer's payroll cycle.

Keith, Josh, and Carlin delve into the potentially applicable federal laws related to EWA, starting with the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). They discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) advisory opinion on EWA products and the confusion it caused in the industry. They also discuss other federal laws that may apply to EWA products, such as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), the Military Lending Act (MLA), Regulation E, and the Payday Lending Rule.

In addition to the federal laws, Keith, Josh, and Carlin discuss state lending and licensing laws, and highlight recent state EWA laws and regulatory activity related to EWA, including laws passed in Missouri and Nevada, advisory opinions issued in Arizona and Maryland, and EWA activity in California.

Finally, the group also discusses enforcement issues related to EWA, including the rescinding of a no-action letter by the CFPB and the potential for enforcement under state laws.

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In the latest episode of Payments Pros, hosts Carlin McCrory and Keith Barnett are joined by James Rowe and Nanci McKenzie from Affirmative Technologies to discuss Automated Clearing House (ACH) originator risk.

Affirmative Technologies is one of the nation's leading technology providers in ACH processing and risk management software. The company provides innovative electronic payment solutions to a wide variety of businesses, including financial institutions, third party payment processors, and business entities that seek an effective enterprise, ACH payment solution.

James and Nanci highlight the importance of ACH risk monitoring in the payment processing industry, accounting for a significant portion of noncash payments. They discuss the need for a predictive model to assess the risk of a particular originator, which can help payment processors and Originating Depository Financial Institutions (ODFIs) decide whether to onboard an originator, or how to monitor them once onboarded.

They also discuss Affirmative Technologies’ ACH risk scoring tool, which uses historical data to predict the likelihood of an originator submitting an unauthorized transaction. This tool, similar to a FICO score, can help financial institutions manage their risk more effectively.

The group also touches on the regulatory expectations for and increasing focus on risk management.

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In this episode of Payments Pros, Keith Barnett welcomes his colleagues Rich Zack and Christy Tuttle to discuss how U.S. government sanction programs impact payment processors, banks, and the payments industry in general.

Keith, Rich, and Christy discuss the current atmosphere of sanctions in the payments industry and the recent joint guidance issued to banks by the OCC, the Fed, and FDIC. The guidance instructs banks on the regulators' expectations during bank examinations concerning third-party relationships, including payment processors, card issuers, blockchain, and anyone who has a form of bank partnership. The guidance covers initial due diligence, risk assessment, monitoring, ongoing due diligence, and termination of the relationship. Noncompliance with these requirements has led to sanctions against banks, payment processors, card issuers, and money transmitters.

Keith, Rich, and Christy also discuss the role of the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) in enforcing sanctions, particularly in light of the war in Ukraine, as well as the other agencies that enforce sanctions. Lastly, they also discuss what companies in the payments space can do to avoid violating sanctions, and what they should do if a violation is discovered.

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In this episode of Payments Pros, Carlin McCrory welcomes Stout’s Disputes, Compliance, and Investigations Managing Director Terri Sands to discuss the evolvement in payments and the launch of FedNow.

Carlin and Terri discuss how FedNow will affect financial institutions, as well how they see businesses and consumers utilizing the service. Additionally, with this new evolvement in the payments space, financial institutions using FedNow need to be cautious of fraud. Terri discusses how Stout is working with their financial institution clients to implement FedNow, developing strategic planning documents for approaching next generation fraud, and getting management buy-in on the necessary fraud protections.

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In this episode of Payments Pros, Josh McBeain welcomes Isaac Boltansky, managing director and director of policy research at BTIG to discuss the proposed Credit Card Competition Act led by Senator Durbin from Illinois.

Josh and Isaac discuss the intricacies of the proposed legislation and how it would affect issuers, merchants, and consumers. Additionally, they address some of the skepticism that the bill is receiving from those in the industry and challenges that may come with the legislation.

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In this episode of Payments Pros, Josh McBeain welcomes his colleague Andrew Thurmond to discuss residential solar projects as well as the financing and payment options that are available for these types of projects.

With renewable energy being a hot topic now, solar providers have multiple payment options to facilitate solar projects, including loans, retail installment contracts, leases, power purchase agreements, and tax credits. Josh and Andrew discuss these options and what to consider before developing solar payment programs for consumers.

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In this episode of Payments Pros, our hosts Keith Barnett, Carlin McCrory, and Josh McBeain join their colleague Chris Willis to discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) larger participant rule for consumer payments mentioned in its 2023 semiannual rulemaking agenda. During this podcast, they examine a myriad of topics concerning this rule, including the following:

• The current trend of CFPB supervision and why the CFPB is proposing this larger participant rule;
• The influence on the substantive law governing some aspects of payments;
• The implication of CFPB examinations of payments companies for the development of the law or regulatory expectations related to Reg E;
• How the CFPB might use UDAAP in the payments space to drive sought-after industry changes or remediations; and
• The anticipated timeline for the proposed rule.

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This edition of Payments Pros spotlights an episode from The Crypto Exchange podcast where Ethan Ostroff sat down with Payments Pros hosts Keith Barnett and Carlin McCrory to discuss recent developments with convenience fees in the payments industry. With both of their practices focusing on payments-related issues, Keith and Carlin take a deep dive into the recent CFPB advisory opinion on convenience fees and how it affects payment processors, money transmitters, and loan servicers. Additionally, they explore how the CFPB's advisory affects card network rules and how the rules mesh with state laws.

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Troutman Pepper's Payments Pros podcast offers insights from Troutman Pepper Fintech and Payment practice group attorneys, industry business leaders, and regulatory experts on the most challenging legal and regulatory concerns confronted by participants in the payments industry — including everything from BSA to EFTs, fintech to regtech, licensure to lending, Nacha to the CFPB, and payment processing to debt collecting. Our attorneys, industry experts, and regulatory insiders walk you through the federal and state regulatory, legal, and business intricacies of the highly complex payments industry.

In our first episode, Troutman Pepper attorneys Keith Barnett and Carlin McCrory welcome Nacha Senior Director of Network Risk Management Jordan Bennett to discuss Nacha's recent request for information (RFI) and request for comment (RFC) regarding ACH risk management.

With the June 16 deadline to provide comments quickly approaching, Keith, Carlin, and Jordan discuss nine specific RFC proposals to amend the Nacha operating rules and four other RFI topics to gather industry perspectives — all geared toward reducing successful fraud incidents and improving fund recovery within the ACH network.

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