April 18, 2019
WASHINGTON (April 18, 2019) – Last week, leaders from across the payments industry gathered at the Hilton Washington DC National Mall for the Innovative Payments Association’s (IPA) 8th Annual Power of Prepaid® Conference. For three days, attendees heard from experts pushing the innovative payments community forward. A key takeaway from the conference: the industry is taking proactive action to make financial security a top priority. 
“The prepaid, fintech and broader innovative payments community has emerged as a dynamic force in our digital economy. Unfortunately, with growth, comes added threats from bad actors looking to do harm to consumers,” said Brian Tate, president and CEO of IPA. “Our members understand that as we develop new avenues for payments, we must also constantly update and adapt to the ever-changing realities of data and financial security.” 

You may not have known it, but April 1 was a pivotal day for the payments community. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule for prepaid accounts officially extended existing consumer protections to mobile wallets and P2P products. It also placed requirements on traditional prepaid products, which have for years been regulated by banking agencies. 

It is important to keep in mind that the prepaid community was providing consumer protections disclosures, as well as Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance, years before the CFPB’s rules were finalized, but this deadline formalized revamped thinking from regulators on what constitutes a prepaid account.

​The industry is ready for this evolution.