New York v. Citibank, N.A.
The Bureau submitted a statement of interest with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York arguing that the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) applies when banks connect the capability to initiate wire transfers to a consumer-facing banking platform.
The brief argues that EFTA’s wire transfer exclusion, which applies to transfers made “by means of” a wire service, excludes only bank-to-bank wire transfers from EFTA’s consumer protections. When banks connect wire transfer capabilities to consumer-facing online banking platforms, an online-initiated wire transaction meets the definition of an “electronic fund transfer” and only the bank-to-bank wire portion of that transaction is excluded from EFTA and Regulation E coverage. The remaining electronic fund transfer is subject to EFTA and its implementing Regulation E.