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

FBI makes arrests in $80m bank fraud case

The FBI has arrested four members of an alleged crime ring that hired hundreds of immigrants from the former Soviet Union to defraud banks and credit card companies out of more than $80 million.

19 August 2009

News/Legal

US man charged with stealing 130 million card numbers

In the biggest case of its kind in US history, prosecutors have charged a Miami man with hacking into the computer networks of payment processors and retailers and stealing the details of 130 million credit and debit cards.

18 August 2009

News/Legal

Aussie police make Trojan banking arrest

South Australian police have arrested a 20-year old man from Adelaide on charges of infecting 3000 computers worldwide with Trojan malware capable of capturing banking credentials and credit card information from compromised machines.

13 August 2009

News/Legal

Visa blinks first in NZ interchange case

Visa is to adjust its interchange rules in New Zealand and pay NZ$2.6 million to the country's competition authority to settle a two-year old civil suit brought against the card scheme. Anti-trust claims against MasterCard and six banks remain outstanding and will be heard at the High Court in Auckland in October this year.

13 August 2009

News/Legal

Optiver sues rival over software theft - report

The Australian arm of derivatives trading firm Optiver is suing Tibra, a rival outfit set up by a former employee, for allegedly stealing software, according to local press reports.

07 August 2009

News/Legal

Gang charged in $400,000 ATM scam

Authorities in New York have arrested four people accused of stealing $422,000 by exploiting a regulation requiring banks to reimburse the accounts of customers who claim their ATM cards have been used without their permission.

31 July 2009

News/Legal

Data compression firm files patent infringement suits against banks and exchanges

A US firm specialising in data compression has filed lawsuits against a host of investment banks, stock exchanges and financial news and data outfits, accusing them of patent infringement.

29 July 2009

News/Legal

Police foil London ATM hijackers

Police have arrested three men accused of using a lorry with a mechanical arm to rip an ATM from the wall of a Barclays bank branch in London.

27 July 2009

News/Legal

Goldman slayed by blogger

Goldman Sachs has capitulated in its legal battle with fierce online critic, blogger Mike Morgan, over his use of the domain name goldmansachs666.com.

16 July 2009

News/Legal

Card cloning brothers jailed

Three London-based brothers have been jailed for running a counterfeit credit and debit card factory that netted them over £600,000.

15 July 2009

News/Legal

UBS files code theft lawsuit

In an incident with striking parallels to the recent Goldman Sachs code theft case, it now emerges that UBS in March filed a lawsuit against three former quant traders alleging that they stole proprietary algorithmic trading software with the intent of using it at their new employer, Jefferies.

14 July 2009

News/Legal

Guatemalan Twitterer accused of causing financial panic escapes trial

A Guatemalan looks to have escaped trial for inciting financial panic with a tweet, after an appeals court found insufficient evidence to try him, according to Associated Press.

10 July 2009

News/Legal

Citadel sues ex-staff for contract breach; raises code-theft spectre

Citadel Investment Group is suing three former employees who set up Teza Technologies, the firm that became embroiled in the Goldman Sachs code theft case this week, for violating a non-compete agreement.

10 July 2009

News/Legal

Morgan Stanley ops manager cops a plea in $2.5 million fraud case

A former operations manager responsible for payments processing at Morgan Stanley's institutional securities business is to plead guilty to stealing $2.5 million from the US investment bank over a seven-year period.

10 July 2009

News/Legal

New Jersey street gangs gravitating to hi-tech cheque fraud

Several members of the New Jersey Bloods street gang have been arrested by authorities, accused of using laptops and digital cameras to create counterfeit cheques worth $654,000.

08 July 2009

News/Legal

Deutsche Bank faces probe over alleged snooping operation

An investigation commissioned by Deutsche Bank has revealed that Germany's largest bank spied on several of its management board members, supervisory board members and on at least one shareholder, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.

07 July 2009

News/Legal

FBI nabs programmer accused of stealing trading code

A Russian computer programmer has been arrested by the FBI, accused of stealing proprietary trading code from the New York-based financial institution he used to work for.

06 July 2009

News/Legal

China bans use of virtual cash for trade in the wider economy

China has banned the use of virtual currency in the trade of real goods and services in a bid to limit its possible impact on the financial system.

30 June 2009

News/Legal

TJX agrees $9.75m settlement with US states

Retail giant TJX has agreed to pay around $9.75 million as part of a settlement with a group of 41 state attorneys general investigating the massive security breach at its operations that resulted in the theft of millions of credit and debit card numbers.

25 June 2009

News/Legal

Gang arrested for buying own music online with stolen cards

UK police have arrested nine people accused of using stolen credit cards to buy music they made themselves from iTunes and Amazon, fraudulently netting around $300,000 in royalties.

11 June 2009