Top News In Payments: The Fed Takes A Closer Look At Big Tech; Goldman CEO Denies Apple Card Credit Bias Claims

In today’s top payments news, ongoing security concerns have caused the Federal Reserve to take a closer look at the Big Tech firms that serve the banking industry. Also, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is denying claims that gender bias is apparent in the algorithm the bank uses to decide credit limits for applicants. And Former U.S. President Barack Obama is warning about the potential negative impact that technology can have on society.

Obama Warns Of The Dangers Of ‘Big Disruptive’ Tech

Former U.S. President Barack Obama is warning about the potential negative impact technology can have on society. “Big disruptive” information technologies can sometimes be “dangerous,” Obama said during a talk with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “People don’t know what’s true and what’s not, and what to believe,” he noted, adding that instead of uniting people, technology — like social media — is “splintering” them.

Goldman CEO Denies Claims Of Apple Card Credit Biases

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is denying claims that gender bias is apparent in the algorithm it uses to decide credit limits for applicants. “There’s no gender bias in our process for extending credit.” Solomon said, according to reports. “There’s no question that different applicants can get different results, and that can be for a variety of reasons.”

Security Concerns Prompt Fed To Strengthen Big Tech Oversight

Ongoing security concerns have caused the Federal Reserve to take a further look at the large tech firms that serve the banking industry. Richard Ashton, deputy general counsel for litigation, enforcement and system matters, said at a conference that the Federal Reserve is mulling an audit of the governance structures and compliance policies of tech firms. The probe would concentrate on tech firms that provide financial institutions (FIs) with data storage.

Privacy Advocates Fear Google Will Mine Fitbit’s Health Data

Google’s $2.1 billion Fitbit deal is sparking privacy concerns that the search company will mine the health data of the 27 million people who tap into the fitness tracking device. Politicians, as well as privacy advocates, have asked regulators to block the deal. They fear Google will tap Fitbit’s data to roll out a healthcare service.

What Wayfair’s Lawyer Says About The Wayfair v. South Dakota Decision

Lawyer George Isaacson argued Wayfair’s side in the landmark 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair case. Isaacson has watched remote sales tax policies unfold since that time in a flurry of new laws that differ by state, and even municipality.

In a feature story, Isaacson discusses how this disparate tax landscape favors overseas sellers compared to domestic, why more states are refraining from simplifying their tax codes and what the chances are for federal eCommerce tax legislation.

Moving Issuers — And Auth Rates — Past Fraud Prevention To Revenue Protection

In the era of eCommerce worldwide, a fraudster with a boosted payments credential can appear on one’s digital doorstep ready to defraud from just about anywhere.

And, as Visa’s CyberSource Vice President Andrew Naumann told Karen Webster in a recent conversation, fraudsters aren’t limiting themselves to the biggest online targets these days — they’re going after small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well.

“What we’ve seen is that fraud has gone mainstream,” Naumann said. “This isn’t just a problem limited to the biggest players, this is [small] and medium-sized businesses that are now targets, which means that there is a level of awareness in place that I would say wasn’t there five years ago.”