Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

Western Express card crime ring members jailed

Several members of a cybercrime ring which trafficked more than 95,000 stolen credit card numbers, causing millions of dollars in losses, have been jailed following a trial in New York.

09 August 2013

News/Legal

Man who rewrote credit card terms sues bank for breaching contract

Always read the small print. A Russian man who managed to rewrite the terms of his credit card agreement, without the provider noticing, is now suing for hundreds of thousands of dollars for breach of contract.

09 August 2013

News/Legal

US judge rules bitcoin is real money

A US federal judge has ruled that bitcoin is a "form of money", paving the way for a legal case against a man accused of running a giant ponzi scheme using the virtual currency.

08 August 2013

News/Legal

Judge backs retailers over Fed's debit card fee cap

A US judge has ruled that the Federal Reserve disregarded the intent of Congress by setting a cap on interchange fees for debit card transactions too high.

01 August 2013

News/Legal

UK retailers open new front in interchange fee row

The UK looks set to be the next battleground in the ongoing legal skirmishes between retailers and card schemes, as a host of merchants file suit in London against Visa over interchange fees.

29 July 2013

News/Legal

Mizuho fails in legal bid to claw back over 40 billion yen in fat finger trading losses

The Tokyo High Court has upheld a lower court ruling ordering the Tokyo Stock Exchange to pay 10.7 billion yen to Mizuho Securities over a botched trade in 2005 that cost the Japanese broker 40 billion yen in trading losses.

25 July 2013

News/Legal

Citi blames tech for failure to redact personal data from 150k bankruptcy filings

A software glitch saw US bank Citi fail to redact the personal information of nearly 150,000 people in bankruptcy filings, according to court documents unsealed this week.

18 July 2013

News/Legal

Judge backs Safaricom in M-Shwari legal case

A Kenyan micro-finance provider has failed in its legal bid to have Safaricom's M-Shwari mobile banking service shut down pending the outcome a court case, according to local press reports.

16 July 2013

News/Legal

Visa and MasterCard face another interchange suit

A collection of around 30 retailers, including Amazon and 7-Eleven, have filed a lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard in the latest twist of the ongoing battle between card schemes and US merchants over interchange fees.

28 June 2013

News/Legal

Phishing gang members jailed

A London court has jailed three men for a massive phishing scam which netted the personal details of around 30,000 bank customers from around the world.

19 June 2013

News/Legal

Visa sues Wal-Mart as interchange fight escalates

The ongoing battle between card schemes and US merchants over interchange fees has escalated, with news that Visa is to sue the nation's largest retailer Wal-Mart over its rejection of a previously negotiated $7.2 billion class action interchange settlement.

14 June 2013

News/Legal

Man pleads guilty in $200m credit card fraud case; eight charged over $15m cash-out hack

The leader of an international credit card fraud scheme that netted around $200 million has pleaded guilty in a New Jersey court.

13 June 2013

News/Legal

Authorities swoop on $200m carding forum; Microsoft hits Citadel botnet

Gang members allegedly behind a Web forum used by crooks to trade credit card data have been arrested in Vietnam and the UK. Meanwhile, in another blow to the cyber-crime community, Microsoft has led an operation to disrupt a massive botnet used to steal around $500 million.

06 June 2013

News/Legal

US charges Liberty Reserve over $6bn money laundering scam

Liberty Reserve has been shut down and its founder arrested over claims that the digital currency outfit was used by crooks to launder more than $6 billion.

29 May 2013

News/Legal

US govt freezes Mt. Gox account with Dwolla

The US Department of Homeland Security has served payments start-up Dwolla with a court order telling it to stop processing transactions linked to bitcoin exchange MT. Gox.

15 May 2013

News/Legal

US charges eight over $45m ATM theft

US authorities have charged eight people with taking part in two cyber-attacks that saw card data stolen from payment processors and used to withdraw $45 million from ATMs around the world.

10 May 2013

News/Legal

Bitcoin exchange MT. Gox hit with $75m lawsuit

A partnership between the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MT. Gox, and US counterpart CoinLab has turned ugly, with the latter suing the former for $75 million.

03 May 2013

News/Legal

Court backs exchanges in market data pricing case

A US appeals court has ruled in favour of Nyse Euronext and Nasdaq OMX in their battle with Internet and securities industry associations over market data fees.

01 May 2013

News/Legal

Judge rejects FBI bid to hack online bank theft suspect's computer

A Texas judge has rejected a request from the FBI for a warrant letting it hack into the computer of an online bank robbing suspect and install spyware.

26 April 2013

News/Legal

Icelandic court orders Valitor to process WikiLeaks donations

Iceland's Supreme Court has ordered local card acquiring outfit Valitor to start processing payments for whistleblowing Web site WikiLeaks within 15 days or face daily fines of nearly $7000.

25 April 2013