Law Commons^™

Central Bank Digital Currencies: The New Era Of Mondern-Day Banking, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

An internal report submitted in March to the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), presents an initial analysis of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

What You Need To Know

• The report poses no immediate legal implications.
• Lawyers and policy makers ought to be prepared to engage in discussions which lead to decision making as to such developments as well as to address the developments as they arise.
• The introduction of a CBDC in one jurisdiction could adversely affect others. Central banks that have introduced or are seeking to introduce a CBDC should …

Banking In The Digital Age - Who Is Afraid Of Payment Disintermediation?, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

Throughout the ages, banks have evolved as intermediaries taking deposits of funds, lending money, and providing payment services. In the process they became also suppliers of commercial bank money, now only in the form of bank deposits. Following a historical review as to how moneychangers and goldsmiths became bankers, the paper points out that money and payment digitization has brought some challenges to the traditional role of banks as intermediaries. First, the digital age is about to facilitate the availability of central bank money balances or their equivalent to the public. Second, cryptocurrencies and blockchains were born. Third, claim-check centralized …

From Paper To Electronic Order: The Digitalization Of The Check In The Usa, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

This article explores the various stages in the check payment in which electronic transmission has replaced physical delivery. Part I discusses converting the check into an electronic entry at a point of sale of goods and services. Part II addresses the electronic presentment of a check. Part III deals with the possible conversion of the check from paper to electronic, and vice versa, within the interbank check collection system. Interbank exchange of check images is the subject of Part IV. Part V addresses the electronic order that operates like a check but that has never been in a paper format. …

The Medieval Hawale: The Legal Nature Of The Suftaj And Other Islamic Payment Instruments, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

By the middle of the eighth century CE the Arabs established their dominion from the Atlantic Ocean to west of the Persian Gulf. In the process, they spread Islam and established Islamic law as the law of the land throughout this entire vast territory. Until the rise of the Turkish Ottoman Empire between the 13th the 16th centuries CE, that territory included North Africa (both Egypt and the Maghreb), Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Arabia. The era of the pre-Ottoman Arab domination of those lands roughly coincides with the Middle Ages. During that time, centres of economic and financial activity …

The Fictitious Payee After Teva V. Bmo: Has The Pendulum Swung Back Far Enough?, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

Under Section 20(5) of the Bills of Exchange Act (‘‘BEA s. 20(5)”) where on a bill of exchange ‘‘the payee is a fictitious or non-existing person, the bill may be treated as payable to bearer.” A bill of exchange includes a cheque. Where BEA s. 20(5) applies to a cheque, its effect is to reallocate forged endorsement losses from banks involved in the collection and payment of the cheque to the drawer. Quite recently, in commenting on Raza Kayani LLP v. Toronto-Dominion Bank, I highlighted the ongoing confusion in the judicial interpretation of BEA s. 20(5) (‘‘Kayani Comment”). That comment …

Electronic Verification Of Wire Payment Orders, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

Over the years, albeit less so in connection with consumer accounts, the bank's absolute liability became subject to exceptions. Particularly, bypassing a classical text explicitly to the contrary, it had been recognized that a customer's fault can lead to the forgery of the customer's own signature and hence to forgery losses.

The Order To Pay Money In Medieval Continental Europe, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

This chapter discusses the evolution of non-cash payment mechanisms in the course of the development of the medieval banking system in Europe. The chapter sets out three categories of a medieval continental financier. The first category, pawnbrokers, consisted of lenders who lent out of their capital primarily for consumption who played no role in the development of the payment system. The second category consisted of moneychangers who accepted deposits and whose practices were rooted in in the manual exchange of coins. The third category consisted of exchange bankers whose practices emerged from the exchange of money in long distance trade. …

Best Practice For The Uniform Treatment Of Wire Payments, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

Like any method of payment, the wire transfer may be either an "on-us" or interbank payment. In Canada, as long as they are between large banks, interbank wire payments are processed through the Canadian Payments Association's ("CPA") Large Value Transfer System ("LVTS").

Allocation Of Sender Risks In Wire Transfers: The Common Law And Ucc Article 4a [Part 2], Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

No abstract provided.

Allocation Of Sender Risks In Wire Transfers: The Common Law And Ucc Article 4a [Part 1], Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

No abstract provided.

The Beneficiary’S Bank And Beneficiary Described By Name And Number: Liability Chain And Liability Standard In Wire Transfers (Part 2), Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

This article deals with issues evolving around the identification of the beneficiary in the last payment order in the credit transfer received by the last bank in the transfer chain ("beneficiary's bank"), the duties of the beneficiary's bank in the case of an ambiguous description of the beneficiary in the payment order, and the liability of the beneficiary's bank in case it broke such duties.

Payment Transactions Under The Eu Payment Services Directive: A U.S. Comparative Perspective, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

This article endeavours to analyse the provisions of Title IV governing rights and obligations in relation to the provision and use of payment services. Analysis is particularly from a US comparative perspective. Attention will be given to Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC") Article 4A, which governs U.S. wire and other credit transfers as well as federal laws governing consumer retail payment systems. A broader but related objective of the article is the assessment of the contribution of Title IV to the harmonization of funds transfer and payment law, not only by comparison to the U.S., but also by reference to a …

Legislative Power In Relation To Transfers Of Securities: The Case For Provincial Jurisdiction In Canada, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

No abstract provided.

Irrevocability Of Bank Drafts, Certified Cheques And Money Orders, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

This article deals with three types of negotiable instruments payable on demand which are issued, stamped or signed by banks prior to their collection and payment, and used as mechanisms for the transmission of funds. These instruments are the bank draft, including the bank money order, the certified cheque, and the personal money order. The article is concerned with the binding effect, or the irrevocability, of the bank's obligation on these instruments under the law of bills and notes. It concludes that (1) the issuer of the bank draft is liable as a drawer, and under some circumstances, also as …

Insolvent Bank’S Irrevocable Credit As Priority Payment Instrument: Barclays Bank V. Price Waterhouse, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

No abstract provided.

Settlement Finality And Associated Risks In Funds Transfers – When Does Interbank Payment Occur?, Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

This paper addresses the first meaning of settlement finality, that is, the discharge of the interbank obligation. The discussion focuses on large-value transfer systems, namely, "systematically important" payment systems, and examines settlement finality therein under the provisions of Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code-Funds Transfers. Primary attention is given to the various implications of settlement finality under Article 4A, as well as to compliance with the statutory scheme with BIS Core Principles, in conjunction with system rules. Following the present discussion on the meaning of settlement finality, Part 2 of the paper sets out settlement mechanisms in large-value transfer …

The Beneficiary’S Bank And Beneficiary Described By Name And Number: Liability Chain And Liability Standard In Wire Transfers (Part 1), Benjamin Geva

Benjamin Geva

This article deals with issues evolving around the identification of the beneficiary in the last payment order in the credit transfer received by the last bank in the transfer chain ("beneficiary's bank"), the duties of the beneficiary's bank in the case of an ambiguous description of the beneficiary in the payment order, and the liability of the beneficiary's bank in case it broke such duties.