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Slideshow

'The right to financial services should be universal': Comments of the week

ByRachel Witkowski
June 27, 2019 10:00 PM

Readers respond to how Congress should address AI, concerns on Facebook's Libra and its logo, a report challenging card fraud prevention and more.

Robot with safe
A white robot points to a safe he's holding in his hand. 3d illustration.
Alexander Limbach - stock.adobe.com
On the head of global policy at Kabbage, Sam Taussig, asking Congress to create uniform definitions for AI before regulating it:

"The right to financial services should be universal, since leaving the control to gatekeepers such as the 'Facebook Elite Club of Validators' creates a tool that is much more likely to be successful at economically benefiting those who can afford to be part of The Libra Association, oppressing people, and not doing anything to keep the bad guys out."

Related: BankThink Before they regulate AI, Congress needs to define it
A logo sits on the side of the Facebook pop-up office ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
On whether Facebook swiped a nearly identical logo from another financial firm for its new cryptocurrency unit:

"So many logos look alike — and like the two shown — have zero meaning to a consumer, despite whatever claims the design firm made to the contrary. Obviously, the design firm is to blame for hoodwinking two firms to buy this recycled marketing merchandise. But the hapless clients who signed-off on it deserve blame as well."

Related: Did Facebook swipe its Calibra logo from a challenger bank?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and 2020 presidential candidate, speaks during an Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S., on Sunday, June 9, 2019. Iowa, the first-in-the nation caucus state, is hosting 19 presidential hopefuls this weekend for its annual Hall of Fame celebration, a fundraiser for the state Democratic Party in Cedar Rapids on Sunday. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
On Sen. Elizabeth Warren raising a red flag over the Department of Housing and Urban Development's hiring of a former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official with a history of controversial writings:

"As president I should be allowed to appoint those that think like me. Putin can, so can MBS and my favorite dictator in North Korea."

Related: Warren sounds alarm on HUD hiring of embattled CFPB official
Mastercard credit cards are arranged for a photograph.
On a report that challenges whether financial institutions and law enforcement are doing enough to stop card fraud:

"Not surprised banks and card schemes push back. Their focus is how to dump fraud costs on unsuspecting merchants instead of addressing the fraud prone nature of their outdated card products. They dismissed PINs in the US for all the wrong reasons and merchants are paying the price for their neglect!"

Related: Card fraud fuels criminal activity. Is industry doing enough to stop it?
blind-justice-92329578-adobe.jpeg
Paul - stock.adobe.com
On an industry-wide push by the National Credit Union Administration Chairman Rodney Hood encouraging financial institutions and regulators to consider job applicants with criminal records:

"It will be interesting to know how insurance providers, e.g., errors and omissions, D&O liability, will react to this. Seems like the underwriting of those policies would result in higher premiums based on risk."

Related: It’s time to reconsider job applicants with criminal records
facebook_bl072816.jpg
The Facebook Inc. website is displayed for a photograph on an Apple Inc. laptop in an arranged photograph taken in New York, U.S., on Thursday, July 26, 2018. Facebook shares plunged 19 percent Thursday after second-quarter sales and user growth missed Wall Street estimates. Photographer: Johannes Berg/Bloomberg
Johannes Berg/Bloomberg
On bankers reacting to Facebook's new cryptocurrency pilot, Libra:

"Can someone please explain to me what problem a Facebook sponsored cryptocurrency/stablecoin solves, what value it would add? Just give me real time dollar payments."

Related: 'Another one?’ Bankers react to Facebook’s digital currency
Financial Stability Oversight Council
Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury secretary, center, speaks during a Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) meeting at the U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018. When Mnuchin fingered high-frequency trading and the Volcker Rule as factors behind recent misery in the stock market he left out some other possibilities that might be contributing. Namely, the White Houses's ongoing trade conflict with China and President Donald Trump's threat last week to shut down the government. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Al Drago/Bloomberg
On an op-ed suggesting the Financial Stability Oversight Council's recent proposal to focus more on risk-based activities could inadvertently create more risk:

"I'm skeptical of anything that comes from NY educators. This is a state with some of the most restrictive and inane laws in the country if not the world."

Related: Lowering the bar on financial regulation is fraught with risk
Rachel Witkowski
Tech reporter, Financial Planning
Libra Artificial intelligence Machine learning Cards Card fraud Fraud detection Elizabeth Warren Facebook HUD CFPB News & Analysis Cryptocurrency
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