Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: FTC finds no anticompetitive effects in proposed information exchange database for licensed money transmitters, (Sep 6, 2013)
Organizations Mentioned:Bureau of Competition | Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition has issued an advisory opinion regarding money transmitters, non-bank entities that transfer funds from one individual or institution to another by wire, check, computer network, or other means.
The Money Services Round Table (TMSRT), a trade association comprised of six licensed national money transmitters, had proposed the establishment of an information exchange database to collect information from and disseminate information to licensed U.S. money transmitters, regarding terminated U.S. agents.
TMSRT’s program does not appear to be anticompetitive, the advisory opinion states, nor is the exchange designed to further coordination among U.S. money transmitters, and the FTC has no present intention of challenging the proposed information exchange.
The exchange will contain several safeguards, such as the appointment of a third-party vendor to maintain the information exchange database, to lessen the risk of anticompetitive effects. The exchange will likely improve the money transmitters’ ability to comply with federal and state laws regarding money laundering, terrorist financing, and other criminal behavior.
News: Antitrust FederalTradeCommissionNews