The Wall Street Journal reports:
Prepaid cards, which started out as simple gift cards from retail stores, have morphed into popular financial-management tools with functions that rival bank checking accounts. Now regulators are playing catch-up, with plans to roll out a rule this fall that would bring oversight of the sector closer to regulations covering banks.
The coming rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau marks the federal government’s first comprehensive effort to police the market, which caters to tens of millions of Americans, many of whom are lower-income and have either no or limited access to regular bank accounts.
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