It remains to be seen whether Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony on Capitol Hill will prompt lawmakers to move forward on data privacy legislation. But it’s clear that the debate is just getting started — and that banks have a big stake.
With consumer privacy issues in the spotlight, Citibank is betting its app — as an offering from a trusted data partner — will be more appealing than those from unknown brands or companies that have less liability if security breaches occur.
The concept of privacy is evolving in the digital age in ways that demand new attention from policymakers. As stewards of considerable personal information, banks should prepare to take part in this debate.
More than a decade ago, bankers fought Walmart tooth and nail as it made forays into banking. But with Amazon making more moves into financial services, the reaction is very different.
Equifax, the credit bureau breached by hackers last year, said the card-payments industry may cut off its access to certain data or impose fines if the company can't prove it's addressed weaknesses.
Financial institutions and retail companies are trading barbs over which industry poses greater risk to sensitive customer information just as lawmakers are planning to take another stab at a data security bill.
The clock starts ticking this week on a busy agenda of financial services priorities on Capitol Hill, including passing reforms to Dodd-Frank, overhauling the housing finance system and confirming key regulators.
It is unclear whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is abandoning its supervisory oversight of Equifax or just taking a back seat to the Federal Trade Commission as the latter investigates the credit bureau.
Sometimes an idea is ahead of its time. Many of the most ambitious products in fintech were dismissed as absurd or over-ambitious at the time — only to feel perfectly normal years later as culture and consumer habits evolved.
