Electronic-funds-transfer Books

Just an addendum to my previously submitted review: This review reflects my personal opinion and not necessarily that of the American Bar Association or any of its committees or subcommittees. Thanks!

As the chair of the American Bar Association's Subcommittee on Electronic Commerce, I recently reviewed this book for an upcoming issue of the South Carolina Law Review. In that review, I noted that few other works have addressed the intersection of electronic commerce and banking law, and characterized the book as "a consistently impressive combination of a treatise and a client memorandum." I found particularly useful the authors' detailed, informed, and intensely practical surveys of electronic payment technologies, regulatory actions, and judicial decisions. Separate sections, which can be read independently, are devoted to the missions and relevant activities of various regulatory agencies such as the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Other chapters discuss security and privacy of online banking systems, the operation of stored-value systems such as Mondex and Visa Cash, online brokerage and insurance services, intellectual property online, and Internet-based jurisdiction. I believe that this book is useful not only for reference but as a survey of developments in this rapidly-moving area. In my opinion, someone who sat down and read 50 pages a night of 21st Century Money, Banking and Commerce could get painlessly in two weeks more substantive information than most seminars on electronic commerce could deliver.

I have read "The Latin American Conspiracy" and found it not only interesting but motivating. Van Geldern brings America's financial vunerability home in a clear and uncomfortably vivid way. So uncomfortable, I had to re-think my views of America as the world's leader in monetary affairs. But it was also fun and full of action, intrigue and Holloywoodesque drama. I sincerely recommend this book for anyone concerned about our national financial standing and what possible alternatives we have if money does become worthless. S.B. Thompson

I have read "The Latin American Conspiracy" and found it not only interesting but motivating. Van Geldern brings American's financial vunerability home in a clear and uncomfortably vivid way. So uncomfortable, I had to re-think my views of America as the world's leader in monetary affairs. But it was also fun and full of action, intrigue and Holloywoodesque drama. I sincerely recommend this book for anyone concered about our national financial standing and what possible alternatives we have if money does become worthless. S.B. Thompson

This is one of the most important books on finance law and regulation for 21st century and will be welcomed by all in the industry. So much has changed so quickly with the arrival of easy and cheap access to the internet, and the authors explain what has happened so far. Our new technologies have created new products like e-money which require legislation of sorts such as the E-Money Directive and the E-Commerce Directive.

Lovells law firm have masterminded this work under the editorial expertise of Paul Anning, Emily Reid and Heather Rowe. The team, with their excellent specialist contributors, have set out the fast pace of technological change in a fast changing environment creating legal challenges for all involved with financial services businesses and all the advisory support which goes with it.

The book has five parts covering:
Part I - an introduction to e-commerce and the key European and UK legislation;
Part II - the legal and regulatory considerations relevant to particular kinds of activity particularly working online and based around the lifecycle of a customer relationship like creating a website, advertising and marketing financial products, online contracts and the management of online customer relationships;
Part III - specific areas of law which apply to e-finance providers, such as the protection of data, money laundering and issues of jurisdiction;
Part IV - explaining what e-money is and the regulatory regime with which e-money issues must comply; and
Part V - the IP and IT aspects of e-finance.

There is a chapter summary at the beginning of each of the 14 chapters plus a glossary at appendix 1 and an excellent website checklist at appendix 2 (which will need to be kept up to date) with a comprehensive index at the back. Lovells might think of establishing an online updating service for updates.

Every chapter holds great importance for lawyers but the ones which stand out are chapter 6 concerning contracting on-line, chapter 13 on electronic signatures and chapter 3 on what is confusingly called "co-ordinated field" but is what we know as the legal and regulatory frameworks.

I was very impressed with this publication which links the traditional law book with the feeling of a computer manual, although don't take that the wrong way! The layout was very helpful with the short summary at the beginning and then a trenchant conclusion at the end of each chapter to reinforce points. I came away knowing a great deal more, but always having the feeling that my overall knowledge had been consolidated with each of the different strands of the new legislative agenda we have been given with IT.

This is a book for the future, it's about the future and it's given a very fair statement of where the law and the regulation of e-finance stood 4 years ago when it was written: the trouble is all our moving financial goalposts. I would think a new edition inevitable as the 2008 credit crunch and the massive shifts in global finance change the way we think about e-finance, the internet, and how much regulation we will need for that future.

The future of digital money may be a way to effect economic government -- the replacement of the coercion of the state by voluntary institutions. According to this book, advances in encryption will allow digital money transactions to be verifiable by induplicatable signature, yet encrypted to be utterly indecipherable by states (or other busybodies). The Future of Money in the Information Age is a great collection of essays that together paint an optimistic picture of a near future in which states will find it more and more difficult to exercise control of money -- their lifesblood. Highly recommended.

Guidelines for Electronic Payment of Healthcare Claims Using the ANSI Asc X12 electron by James J. Moynihan, Marcia L. McLure

This book is a remarkable piece. It opens ones eyes to the potential money laundering risks in mobile financial services. Great read. Very informative.

Experienced financial professionals with years of practical operating experience wrote this recently published book. Therefore, it is not surprising that this book methodically covers the principal payment systems (checks, ACHs, wires and global transfer systems - CHIPS and SWIFT), their basic workings, risk, and how to manage those risks. The subject matter of this book is critical for corporate financial managers - CFOs, Treasurers, Cash Managers, Controllers - as well as bank operations officers, and bank and corporate auditors.

Since check fraud is currently a $10 billion a year problem an entire chapter is devoted to checks, their characteristics, the prevailing regulations, the risk parameters, and how to manage that risk including using internal controls, bank controls, check stock controls, and positive pay controls. The authors warn corporations that they should be alert to "gross negligence and willful conduct clauses" in bank agreements which may put undue and unnecessary risk on them.

Wire transfer, defined to include FedWire, CHIPS and SWIFT, are covered in two chapters. The first chapter covers the transfer from the originating bank to the receiving bank. The next topics reviewed include: liability for fraudulent transfers, managing risks in the links of the wire systems, and the bank's perspective on wire transfer risk. The second chapter on wire transfers focuses on completing the transfer and the rules for handing errors.

The Automated Clearing House (ACH), the second type of electronic funds transfer, in addition to wires, is covered in a separate chapter. A basic discussion of this payment type is provided along with a definition of the types of ACHs and how they are processed. The ACH origination process is covered and the warranties and liabilities of the originating bank are examined.

Other topics reviewed in this section include ACH prenotification, reversal of duplicate and erroneous payments. The authors then examine the receipt of entries, returns, change and acknowledgements. Lastly, settlement and accountability, cross-border payments, US Government payments, and ACH payment system risks are reviewed.

[In light of the recent coverage in an August 2003 issue of the American Banker newspaper, corporate treasury managers should make sure that they setup special ACH debit blocks on their bank accounts to reduce the risk of ACH fraud.]

An entire chapter is devoted to Electronic Commerce and Internet payments. Corporate financial managers are well advised to bone up on this material to ensure that they protect their corporate assets from potential fraud in these two exploding areas. There are a cyber crooks and hackers who are looking to defraud any company that doesn't protect itself on the Internet. Also included in the book is an 8-page glossary.

The last chapter covers the specifics of controlling corporate payment system risks as opposed to risks faced by financial institutions. Included in this chapter is a 5-page "Risk Management Crime Coverage Checklist." Additional material covered in this chapter are pointers on handling payment systems disruptions, managing check, wire, and ACH fraud.

In conclusion, this book covers all the bases on payments system risk. The readers will obtain a comprehensive view of the entire subject matter and be better prepared to face the challenges ahead once they realize the importance and understand the vulnerabilities in the existing payments systems.

I thought this's a very "typical" academic text book with lots of complex and head-spinning algorithms pointing you to nowhere. And, I was wrong.

Truly, I'm impressed. This book not only fills with rich contents on electronic payments and case studies, but also it's well written in a simple, easy-to-read style. For people like me who wants to know more about payment technologies in electronic commerce, you will find this book very helpful. In general, this book is divided into two parts. The first part covers the fundamental knowledge on security infrastructure, like basic security, cryptography, digital signatures, authentication, PKI, as well as smart cards, biometrics usage in electronic commerce. The second part gets you to the heart of various e-payment systems, like digital cash, digital checks, SET, credit card payment, and micropayments, etc. For each e-payment systems, the book depicts the protocols to help readers to understand the overall process. It addresses the pros and cons. It shows some case studies in real life application scenarios such as Octopus Card in Hong Kong, Visa Cash, and PayPal, etc. For advanced readers, lots of leads can also be found from the reference page for further readings. Overall, this is no doubt an excellent book on electronic payment technologies. Very solid!

(Reviewed by Otto Yuen, 06-Feb-2005)

This book, although ancient in some respects, is an excellent primer on the American federal reserve system and the risks inherent in U.S. and international banking.

Particularly today, when paper checks are often not even accepted, the functioning of the Clearing House Interbank Payment System (CHIPS) and dozens of other funds, securities, options and other financial instruments settlement systems are of enormous interest.

But what especially intrigues me is the notion that, in the event of a default, the clearing corporation is obligated to "make good on the default," by liquidating the defaulting participant's margin or collateral accounts, or shared assessment on other participants.

As noted in a highly poignant article by former president of the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, E. Gerald Corrigan, "credit and financial interdependencies resulting from these arrangements--especially when they arise in the context of otherwise tightly linked and volatile markets--are a main reason why structural features of clearing and settlement systems are so important."

In other words, pricing, credit risk, spreads, bank reserves and so on are everything, and there is no ultimate guarantee or assurance that the expected net settlement in any banking transaction will successfully conclude without financial resources and commitments to cover a high number of potential eventualities and risks.

This is another way of saying that playing with hot new financial instruments is akin to playing with fire. I'm not sure that's what Corrigan meant, but it's one of many instructions I take away from this educational, if somewhat dated, volume.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

Exceptional book, a real page turner.

I gave it back to the friend I borrowed it from but will by my own copy to read again.

If you want to know what start-ups are all about and fast growth models - buy this book.

Good book...excellent for the MBA class I am taking.
Great price on Amazon, quick delivery.

This was more like a novel than a business book. And that is a good thing. The story is written in such a way that you want to know what will be next for the little company that could.

A must read for anybody interested in business or strategy, or just a really cool story.

It was witty, entertaining and extremely smart.

Gave me an excellent perspective of starting and running a start-up.

Eric Jackson's Paypal Wars reads like a novel and offers an insightful look into the early days of Confinity. Brought in as an early impromptu marketing employee, he stuck with company until its final sale to eBay. As part of this process, he describes the early struggles of the company, the continuous fight against Billpoint, the enormous problem of fraud, and even some corporate politics.

PayPal is an interesting company even if just for the fact that it survived the dot com crash. But they also managed to raise hundreds of millions in venture capital, fought off eBay on their on turf, and managed to go through an IPO and several mergers. As you can tell, the storyline is exciting, and Eric Jackson does a great job of documenting it in this book. For a technology entrepreneur, this should prove to be a captivating read.