Mobile Payments Consumer Policy And The Law

Mobile technology offers an innovative and cost-effective channel for delivering a range of financial services, including mobile payments. In some jurisdictions, mobile payments simply provide a convenient option for facilitating payment transactions. In other jurisdictions, mobile payments are viewed as potentially transformative because they present an opportunity to expand access to financial services. However, as with other innovations, mobile payments raise consumer protection concerns and require robust regulatory mechanisms to address such concerns. Against this backdrop, the book adopts a typology of consumer policy tools which can be used to address the identified consumer concerns. This typology guides the enquiry into the existing consumer protection frameworks applying to mobile payments in selected jurisdictions (Canada, Kenya, and the United Kingdom). The main objective of this endeavour is to identify best practices that national authorities seeking to leverage mobile payments and similar innovations can emulate. This book will be of interest to policymakers, regulators, industry stakeholders, students and scholars interested in the regulation of innovative financial services, particularly from a consumer protection perspective.

Mobile technology offers an innovative and cost-effective channel for delivering a range of financial services, including mobile payments. In some jurisdictions, mobile payments simply provide a convenient option for facilitating payment transactions. In other jurisdictions, mobile payments are viewed as potentially transformative because they present an opportunity to expand access to financial services. However, as with other innovations, mobile payments raise consumer protection concerns and require robust regulatory mechanisms to address such concerns. Against this backdrop, the book adopts a typology of consumer policy tools which can be used to address the identified consumer concerns. This typology guides the enquiry into the existing consumer protection frameworks applying to mobile payments in selected jurisdictions (Canada, Kenya, and the United Kingdom). The main objective of this endeavour is to identify best practices that national authorities seeking to leverage mobile payments and similar innovations can emulate. This book will be of interest to policymakers, regulators, industry stakeholders, students, and scholars interested in the regulation of innovative financial services, particularly from a consumer protection perspective.

There is a widespread demand among businesses for more convenient and reliable international payment products, and inevitably this has led to calls for more predictable and consistent regulation of these products, especially in the light of such innovations as online payments and ‘stored value’ cards. Recognizing that recurring risks tend to be dealt with in similar ways by most legal regimes, this study – the first of its kind – draws on a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of existing regimes to develop an international model which incorporates both the legal elements and their practical application. In building his model, the author addresses the fundamental questions in the law of payment services: Who bears the risk of unauthorised payments? What must be done about claims of error? When are payments completed so that they discharge the underlying liability? When can payments be reversed? These issues are examined through in-depth descriptions of payment facilities as regulated in five key jurisdictions – Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Singapore, and the United States – under the headings of scope, licensing, disclosure, obligations of the parties, liability, redress, and dispute resolution. The five regimes are further measured against the key harmonization project in this field, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Credit Transfers. The discussion is illustrated with analyses of leading cases and a number of worked examples. In summary, this very useful book synthesizes a logical and useful package of regulatory measures into a model that takes into account the lessons learnt in the regulation of payment services. Businesses will warmly welcome the study’s contribution toward reducing the cost of taking a product to market across multiple jurisdictions. Policymakers and legislators will find the task of comparing the various approaches to payment services regulation and analyzing their effectiveness greatly facilitated.

Over the last ten years mobile payment systems have revolutionised banking in some countries in Africa. In Kenya the introduction of M-Pesa, a new financial services model, has transformed the banking and financial services industry. Giving the unbanked majority access to the financial services market it has attracted over 18 million subscribers which is remarkable given that fewer than 4 million people in Kenya have bank accounts. This book addresses the legal and regulatory issues arising out of the introduction of M-Pesa in Kenya and its drive towards financial inclusion. It considers the interaction between regulation and technological innovation with a particular focus on the regulatory tools, institutional arrangements and government decisional processes through the examination as a whole of its regulatory capacity. This is done with a view to understanding the regulatory capacity of Kenya in addressing the vulnerabilities presented by technological innovation in the financial industry for consumers after financial inclusion. It also examines the way that mobile payments have been regulated by criticising the piecemeal approach that the Central Bank of Kenya has taken in addressing the legal and regulatory issues presented by mobile payments. The book argues there are significant gaps in the regulatory regime of mobile banking in Kenya.

This book provides a critical analysis of The European Union’s regulatory framework for mobile payments and bitcoin. Chapters discuss the creation of the EU single market for e-payments and combine legal analysis with comparative case studies in their exploration of the regulatory challenges surrounding e-payments. The contributing authors analyse the key economic and legal issues of the development of bitcoin and mobile payments within the EU framework through a comparative lens. They cover topics ranging from user data and funds protection and the stability of the payment system to the competitiveness of the EU market. Providing a comprehensive and methodological guide to the bitcoin and mobile payments in Europe, this book will prove an illuminating and informative read for academics, students and policy makers with an interest in the impact of innovation on payment systems.

This book presents a comprehensive view of Internet intermediaries, their economic and social function, development and prospects, benefits and costs, and roles and responsibilities.

Consumers continue to rely heavily on their phones to complete such tasks as transferring funds between banks or accounts, depositing or withdrawing funds, paying bills, and purchasing items. Mobile money users are oftentimes more financially resilient and can protect themselves better against economic and other shocks. Moreover, mobile money can increase the velocity of money in circulation because it reduces the transactions and time costs of making retail payments. As such, understanding the impact of mobile payments is imperative for businesses and the economy. Impact of Mobile Payment Applications and Transfers on Business is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on mobile money transfer and its impact in social, corporate, and micro- and macro-policies concerning the aggregate economy and individual households as a whole within an economy. It covers the impact, innovations, business-to-business transformations, regulatory framework, challenges, and ethical issues surrounding mobile money transfers around the world. This book is ideally designed for economists, financial analysts, business managers, leaders, scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students in fields that include management, finance, economics, commerce, and leadership.

Consumer behaviour is rapidly trending towards the use of digital devices as instruments through which to transact day-to-day business. This original and timely book shows how this trend creates new opportunities not only for retail consumers but also for financial service providers, regulators and central banks. The author offers a comprehensive overview of these opportunities and their countervailing legal and regulatory challenges. The author describes and analyses in unprecedented detail the application of digital financial innovation (FinTech), and some of its core manifestations, including virtual currencies, Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies to the delivery of financial services, in areas such as: – payments; – securities clearing and settlement; – central banking; – real-time access to financial information; – instant completion of core financial transactions; – data validation and reconciliation processes; and – digital contracting (smart contracts). Also clarified are the legal and other barriers to be overcome – including cybersecurity and risks to privacy – before any widespread adoption of digital innovation in the highly regulated financial sector context can occur. As an informed assessment of the legal merits and risks of technological innovation for financial service providers and central banks, and as a contribution to establishing a conceptual framework within which to analyse and better understand the applications of digital innovation to the financial sector, this practical work is bound to be welcomed by legal practitioners and legal scholars alike with an interest in financial services. Policymakers and regulators will also appreciate its guidance on how to temper the less benevolent aspects of FinTech with targeted, risk-focused regulation, so as to promote innovation and preserve the potential benefits for financial markets and their participants alike.