Latest news with #MatthewLong
Finextra
4 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
FCA shares feedback on new standard setting body for open banking
There has been significant progress in open banking over the past 6 months, and we want to build upon that momentum. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. This includes the industry-led work to establish a new organisation that will support the rollout of variable recurring payments for some types of household bills later this year. Open banking has the potential to support economic growth in the UK by making payments faster, cheaper and more efficient for people and businesses. It will also enable firms to develop products and services, which make it easier for consumers to manage their finances and pay for goods. The open banking standards provided by the Future Entity are expected to be used by commercial open banking schemes promoting innovation in the sector. The Future Entity is expected to monitor the quality and consistency of technologies used in open banking. This should help inform our supervision of firms. We will be engaging with industry and other stakeholders to decide upon the best way forward to standing up the Future Entity, helping to create a more thriving and innovative open banking industry. Matthew Long, director of payments and digital finance at the FCA, said: 'This is the next step in realising our vision of a more innovative, safe and competitive payments sector, which embraces technological change to better serve people and businesses. 'We expect the Future Entity to play a central role in the next phase of open banking, setting and monitoring the standards that underpin the industry. 'However, we can't realise this future alone. Our engagement and support from industry continues to play a vital role in the future of open banking, as we build on the momentum we've seen in the past 6 months.'
Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Major rule change for firms like PayPal and Revolut to protect millions of customers' cash
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MILLIONS of people using payment firms will see their cash better protected due to a major rule change. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is set to enforce new practices to ensure shoppers are offered bigger refunds, and with fewer delays, if a payment firm goes bust. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 The FCA is shaking up its rules for payment firms from next May Credit: Getty The new rules, affecting those using firms like PayPal, Revolut and Wise, come into force from May 7, 2026. The rules will oblige payment firms to prove customer's money is protected through monthly reports. Firms will also have to be audited once a year to ensure they are safeguarding funds, carry out daily checks to keep records of funds and put risk management practices in place so customers' cash is protected should they go out of business. The FCA said it is giving industry nine months until the new rules kick in so it has enough time to prepare. Read more on Money ALL CHANGE Major British bank with 5million customers could disappear after sale to rival It also said the audit rule will not apply to firms holding less than £10,000 in customer funds. Funds held by payment and e-money firms are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which entitles you to compensation of up to £85,000 if a financial services firm fails. Instead, they are responsible for safeguarding customers' funds themselves. But this has historically led to money being lost or delays in refunds being issued when firms have gone out of business. A number of payment firms went bust between 2018 and 2023, leaving customers short of cash. Firms that became insolvent, when a business cannot afford to repay its debts, over this five-year period had average shortfalls of 65% of their customers' funds. I chase refunds for a living - how to get your money back Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets, FCA, said: "People rely on payment firms to help manage their financial lives. But too often, when those firms fail, their customers are left out of pocket. "Most of those who responded to our consultation agreed we need to raise standards to protect people's money and build trust, but any changes needed to be proportionate, especially for smaller firms. "We'll be watching closely to see if firms seize the opportunity and make effective improvements that their customers rightly deserve – this will help us to determine whether any further tightening of rules is necessary." It comes after the FCA launched a consultation looking at safeguarding practices among payment firms last September. Firms were given until December that year to offer their thoughts on the consultation. Payments firms, also known as payment service providers (PSP), are third-party companies that facilitate electronic payments for businesses through various payment methods. Customer use of them has risen in recent years. The FCA's 2024 Financial Lives Survey revealed that the percentage of people using them had grown from 1% in 2017 to 12% in 2024. It also found roughly one in 10 e-money holders in the UK was using e-money accounts as their main day-to-day transactional account. The Sun asked PayPal, Revolut and Wise to comment. FCA consulting on car finance mis-selling compensation scheme MILLIONS of drivers are set to get £950 car financing compensation after the FCA launched a consultation. The regulator confirmed on Sunday it will consult on a redress scheme for motorists stung by extra charges and interest. This follows the Supreme Court's decision last Friday to overturn a ruling that accused companies of breaking the law by not telling borrowers about "hidden" commission payments. Claims about "commission disclosure complaints" impact up to 99% of car finance agreements. However, the UK's highest court sided with the banks, meaning they avoided the possibility of having to pay compensation to millions of drivers over these complaints. Despite this, drivers who took out personal contract purchase (PCP) or hire purchase agreements may still be eligible for compensation, along with those who were subjected to "excessive" commission charges. This is because the FCA has been investigating and considering a financial redress scheme for car finance agreements made before 2021. These claims focus on "discretionary commission arrangements" (DCAs), which applied to 40% of car finance deals. Under DCAs, brokers and dealers could increase the interest rates charged to borrowers without informing them. By doing this, they earned higher commissions. The financial watchdog has now confirmed plans to consult on an industry-wide compensation scheme. This consultation is set to begin by early October, and if the scheme is approved, the first payments could be made in 2026. Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@ Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
Finextra
6 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
FCA tightens the screws on e-money firms; consumer groups say "too little, too late"
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has finalised new rules to protect consumer's money in the event of payment firm insolvency. 0 Under the rules. customer money must be kept separate from the firm's own money so that it is available to be returned if the firm fails. The move comes after the watchdog found that payment firms that became insolvent between Q1 2018 and Q2 2023 had average shortfalls of 65% of their customers' funds. Under the new regime, e-money firms that hold more £100,000 in customer funds must undertake annual audits and all firms must begin monthly reporting on their holdings and conduct daily checks to ensure the right amount of money is being safeguarded. Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets, FCA, says: "People rely on payment firms to help manage their financial lives. But too often, when those firms fail, their customers are left out of pocket. "'We'll be watching closely to see if firms seize the opportunity and make effective improvements that their customers rightly deserve - this will help us to determine whether any further tightening of rules is necessary." He says the the new rules will kick in after nine months in May next year, giving industry time to prepare. Consumer advocacy group the Transparency Taskforce has branded the new measures as "too little, too late" for consumers who have suffered devastating losses from payment firm failures. "The FCA is essentially admitting they've presided over a consumer protection disaster for the past seven years," says Taskforce founder Andy Agathangelou. "These aren't technical failures - these are real people losing their life savings, house purchase deposits, and emergency funds because the regulator failed to act. It's simply scandalous that it's taken this long for the FCA to acknowledge what consumer groups have been warning about. It's a lax and woefully tardy response from a regulator that has been promising to be more responsive, more proactive and more effective for years. "It seems the FCA has the capacity to watch detriment from the sidelines for far too long before eventually taking action. But even then the action taken simply doesn't go far enough. Consumers, and consumer groups just aren't being listened to; there's an asymmetry of influence over the regulator.' The group want to see swifter implementation of the rules and enforcement of universal audit requirement regardless of firm size. It is also demanding FSCs equivalent protection for all payment firm customers and an independent review of FCA's failure to protect consumers 2018-2023.
Al Jazeera
29-07-2025
- General
- Al Jazeera
Message in a bottle found in Ireland prompts theories about Taiwanese crew
A message in a bottle found off the west coast of Ireland has revived hopes for answers about the fate of a Taiwanese fishing crew that disappeared four years ago. Internet sleuths have linked the note, a purported SOS message written in a mixture of Chinese, Indonesian and English, to the Yong Yu Sing No 18, a Taiwanese fishing vessel that was found adrift with its crew missing in 2021. Matthew Long said that he and a friend were walking on a beach on Inisheer, a small island located about 8km (5 miles) off County Clare, last week when they came across a wax-sealed bottle containing the handwritten note. 'We used Google Translate and the first half of the message translated to an SOS message in Indonesian,' Long told Al Jazeera. Long said he handed the note over to the local police before posting about his discovery on the social media site Reddit, where internet sleuths quickly got to work trying to track down its origin. 'We posted it in a few places online, but when we posted it in r/beachcombing, it blew up and clever Redditors were able to trace it back to a real missing ship crew,' Long said. According to the Reddit posting, the text reads: 'Please send help! We are lost since 12/20. There are 3 of us here. We don't know the name of this island. We are injured. HELP. HELLO. SOS.' The note ends with the Chinese character for 'Li' and the name 'Yong Yu Sing No 18.' An Garda Síochána, the Irish police service, said it does not comment on third-party content online but confirmed it had received a 'report of an item found' on Inisheer last Saturday. It declined to provide further information. The Yong Yu Sing No 18 was reported missing on January 1, 2021, after its owner lost contact with the ship's captain, a man surnamed Li, two days earlier, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency. The fishing vessel was later found approximately 600km (373 miles) from Midway Atoll, an unincorporated United States territory in the North Pacific Ocean, with its crew and lifeboat missing. The incident was later ruled an accident by Taiwanese prosecutors, but the fate of Li and his nine Indonesian crew members remains unknown to this day. The Taiwan Yilan District Prosecutors Office, which investigated the case in 2021, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Long's Reddit post has received nearly 10,000 upvotes, or 'likes', and 1,200 comments from users, many of them offering theories about the crew's fate and debating whether it is more likely that the note is genuine or a hoax. In Taiwan, the note has been taken seriously by advocates for the families of the missing crew, including the Su'Ao Fisherman's Association. 'This association relays the hope that the government will verify the situation through appropriate channels, and if confirmed to be true, is willing for the government to cooperate with international organisations to coordinate rescue efforts,' the association said in a statement to local media. The Su'Ao Fisherman's Association did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment. Internet users on Taiwan's PTT message board have also debated the authenticity of the note. Some have compared it with an incident in 1992 in which a container of 28,000 plastic ducks and bath toys fell off a cargo ship during a storm. In the decades since the incident, the ducks have washed up around the world, including as far away as Scotland. Long said he is uncertain about whether the note is genuine, but believes it is possible. 'I don't know about the note's authenticity or if it was really sent by the crew of that ship,' he said. 'I was very sceptical at first and believed it to be a hoax when I first opened and read the message, but since then, it is starting to look more plausible to me.'
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK Regulator Intends to Start Authorizing Crypto Firms in 2026
The U.K.'s crypto industry has just over 12 months to prepare for an even stricter regulatory regime, a senior official with the country's finance regulator said. Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets at the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), told CoinDesk in an interview that the "impending gateway regime" that is earmarked for 2026 will in fact be a new authorization regime for crypto companies. "We will have a gateway which will allow authorization. But obviously we've got to go through those consultations, create those rules and get the legislation for that to take place," Long said. This regime will be a leap from the current anti-money laundering (AML) one. Firms like crypto exchanges Coinbase, Gemini and Bitpanda will move away from just needing to register with the country to comply with anti-money laundering rules to an authorization regime with rules for a suite of offerings. This will require them to go through a fresh process to secure approval from the FCA. The FCA intends to release papers on stablecoins, trading platforms, staking, prudential crypto exposure and more this year. The regime is expected to go live after final policy papers are published in 2026, Long said. Since its anti-money laundering register for firms opened in 2020, the FCA received 368 applications from firms wishing to comply, but only 50 firms — 14% of applicants — have been approved so far. Many firms may have to start again. Read more: U.K. Financial Regulator Aims for Crypto Regime by 2026 Upcoming legislation will define what counts as a regulated activity, the FCA's Long said. Companies that engage in those activities will need to seek authorization. In 2023 the former U.K. government released papers that said regulated activities would likely include crypto and fiat-referenced stablecoins issuance as well as payment, exchange and lending activities. Stablecoins will no longer be brought under the U.K. payments regulations as set out in previous work, former Economic Secretary Tulip Siddiq said in November. The FCA plans to consult on draft rules for stablecoins early this year. "What we're doing in terms of the stablecoins is we're making sure that we take the best from the current regulation that exists in TradFi, but stablecoins are ultimately unique," Long said. "There isn't anything that is exactly the same. We've got to adapt the regulation that we've currently got." Read more: UK to Draft a Regulatory Framework for Crypto, Stablecoins Early Next Year The FCA is still deciding on the process crypto companies will need to go through to get authorized, Long said. Long added that it was undecided what steps those who are already registered in the money laundering regime will need to take but the new regime will come with wider permissions," so we'd expect that if you wanted the further permissions, you'd apply for them." Therefore companies may need to go through a lengthy registration process — even if they've already secured an existing license. "We'll be communicating with firms about what the gateway will look like before it goes live, our intention is to bring it live as soon as humanly possible," Long said referring to the authorization regime. In formulating how it intends to move forward, the regulator plans to also look at Europe which has launched bespoke legislation for the crypto sector and the International Organization of Securities Commissions' 18 recommendations. IOSCO will soon be publishing a piece on how countries are progressing with its standards, someone familiar with the matter said. "It's a case of understanding and looking for best practice," Long said. Read more: UK Crypto Firms and Regulator Blame Each Other for Industry Exodus
