4 ms·

Banks are heavily regulated for a reason

by htrp 5y ago

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
sb057 5y ago
Banks have successfully and legally blacklisted pornographers for decades due to "reputational risk".
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  But pornography is a high chargeback/fraud sector so that is aligned with banks doing risk control. Ideally a bank would capitalize on the underserved market and find a way to manage the risk.
  - bastardoperator 5y ago
    Merchant banks already do exactly this. There is no shortage of banks working with the adult industry, just higher transaction fees and other stipulations.
  - xnyan 5y ago
    >aligned with banks doing risk control This goes beyond risk control. Insurance has had this figured out for a long time. You can model the risk of porn chargebacks and charge fees accordingly that cover the increased risk of chargeback. Bank behavior towards adult entertainment is a reflection of prevailing attitude of society in which we live, which is frequently quite opposed to sex work. It's not a question of banks demanding much higher feels for legal adult services, they don't want them.
    - danlugo92 5y ago
      > charge fees accordingly I think they can't do that.
  - agentdrtran 5y ago
    and they often don't, markets are not perfect rational actors
scohesc 5y ago
Banks heavily regulate _themselves_ now in a lot of aspects. I believe since the PATRIOT act was passed, the onus of fraud prevention was put on the financial companies, not the government. This has caused a big rift in the "freedom to exchange currency with whoever whenever" crowd since the banks now have the authority (and are actively using it!) to push private companies into following their bidding. A large part of Pornhub moving from an "anybody uploads" to "premium content only" was because the credit card processors didn't want to risk doing financial transactions with a company that could _POTENTIALLY_ be (meaning: unproven) hosting CSAM materials on their website... [1] This was part of the reason OnlyFans was going to forbid adult content on their platform, because of issues with banks and payment processors. They were able to find one with more acceptable terms (although with higher transaction fees on the part of onlyfans) and were able to go back to providing paid adult content. (again, we'll never know the true reason why, but it's been the modus operandi of payment processors to axe anybody who they don't want on their platform.) [2] Fun fact, credit card payment processors add individuals to their list of "people they don't want to do business with" - which is then shared with other payment processors [3] - a large one that's used by the majority of payment processors is the MATCH list ran by Mastercard. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/10/22168240/mastercard-ending-pornhub-payment-processing-unlawful-videos https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/10/22168240/mastercard-endi... [2] https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/27/22641095/onlyfans-sex-work-ban-online-porn-payment-processing-controversy https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/27/22641095/onlyfans-sex-wor... [3] https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/mastercard-match-list-are-you-on-it https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/mastercard-match-list-a...
- bazooka_penguin 5y ago
  Iirc onlyfans was actually because Christian special interests and feminists pressured financial institutions to drop them. I'll try to find the article that discussed it
  - a9h74j 5y ago
    See if it discusses how IIRC Religionists and progressives together gave the US its prohibition on alcohol.
junon 5y ago
Tell that to Paypal.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  US PayPal isn't a bank.
  - junon 5y ago
    It sure acts like one.
tomatotomato37 5y ago
Doesn't help if the regulators are the ones pushing for it; e.g. Operation Choke Point https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point

Banks are heavily regulated for a reason

by htrp 5y ago

Banks are heavily regulated for a reason

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

sb057 5y ago

Banks have successfully and legally blacklisted pornographers for decades due to "reputational risk".

vorpalhex 5y ago
But pornography is a high chargeback/fraud sector so that is aligned with banks doing risk control. Ideally a bank would capitalize on the underserved market and find a way to manage the risk.
- bastardoperator 5y ago
  Merchant banks already do exactly this. There is no shortage of banks working with the adult industry, just higher transaction fees and other stipulations.
- xnyan 5y ago
  >aligned with banks doing risk control This goes beyond risk control. Insurance has had this figured out for a long time. You can model the risk of porn chargebacks and charge fees accordingly that cover the increased risk of chargeback. Bank behavior towards adult entertainment is a reflection of prevailing attitude of society in which we live, which is frequently quite opposed to sex work. It's not a question of banks demanding much higher feels for legal adult services, they don't want them.
  - danlugo92 5y ago
    > charge fees accordingly I think they can't do that.
- agentdrtran 5y ago
  and they often don't, markets are not perfect rational actors

scohesc 5y ago

Banks heavily regulate _themselves_ now in a lot of aspects. I believe since the PATRIOT act was passed, the onus of fraud prevention was put on the financial companies, not the government. This has caused a big rift in the "freedom to exchange currency with whoever whenever" crowd since the banks now have the authority (and are actively using it!) to push private companies into following their bidding. A large part of Pornhub moving from an "anybody uploads" to "premium content only" was because the credit card processors didn't want to risk doing financial transactions with a company that could _POTENTIALLY_ be (meaning: unproven) hosting CSAM materials on their website... [1] This was part of the reason OnlyFans was going to forbid adult content on their platform, because of issues with banks and payment processors. They were able to find one with more acceptable terms (although with higher transaction fees on the part of onlyfans) and were able to go back to providing paid adult content. (again, we'll never know the true reason why, but it's been the modus operandi of payment processors to axe anybody who they don't want on their platform.) [2] Fun fact, credit card payment processors add individuals to their list of "people they don't want to do business with" - which is then shared with other payment processors [3] - a large one that's used by the majority of payment processors is the MATCH list ran by Mastercard. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/10/22168240/mastercard-ending-pornhub-payment-processing-unlawful-videos https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/10/22168240/mastercard-endi... [2] https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/27/22641095/onlyfans-sex-work-ban-online-porn-payment-processing-controversy https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/27/22641095/onlyfans-sex-wor... [3] https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/mastercard-match-list-are-you-on-it https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/mastercard-match-list-a...

bazooka_penguin 5y ago
Iirc onlyfans was actually because Christian special interests and feminists pressured financial institutions to drop them. I'll try to find the article that discussed it
- a9h74j 5y ago
  See if it discusses how IIRC Religionists and progressives together gave the US its prohibition on alcohol.

junon 5y ago

Tell that to Paypal.

kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
US PayPal isn't a bank.
- junon 5y ago
  It sure acts like one.

tomatotomato37 5y ago

Doesn't help if the regulators are the ones pushing for it; e.g. Operation Choke Point https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point