There’s Nothing to Like About Facebook Wanting Financial Info
By Matthew Buck
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook had asked major banks for their customers’ personal financial information and history, including checking account balances and card transactions, reportedly to allow users to access banking customer service functions from its Messenger app…..Most broadly, giant technology corporations’ entry into the financial industry raises concerns about the structural resilience of the macroeconomic system. Karen Shaw Petrou, co-founder and managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, which advises both regulators and banks on financial policy, asks, “What happens if one of [these servers] fails? How much of banking stops and what economic interests are at risk? It’s one thing if you can’t get on Tinder for a couple of days. It’s very different if you can’t get your money.” After the 2008 crash, new financial regulations mandated capital and operational rules for banks. “But now,” Petrou explains, “a lot of the financial infrastructure is moving very quickly outside of the regulated banking system where none of the same capital and resilience controls apply.”
https://openmarketsinstitute.org/newsletters/corner-newsletter-august-23-2018-paramount-consent-decrees-matter-tech-giants-threaten-banking-overlooked-dissent-ftc/
