First Data 2009 Annual Report Download - page 18

TeleCheck or TRS may become subject to further regulation in the future as legislatures and government
agencies, both federal and state, enact additional legislation or issue regulations aimed at regulating collection
activities, the collection, storage and use of data and databases regarding consumers. In particular, laws
regulating activities with respect to current or emerging technology such as the use of automated dialers or
pre-recorded messaging or calls to cellular phones could impair the collection by TRS of returned checks,
including those purchased under TeleCheck’s guarantee services. Moreover, reducing or eliminating access to
and use of information on drivers licenses, requiring blocking of access to credit reports or scores, mandating
score or scoring methodology disclosure and proscribing the maintenance or use of consumer databases,
including a consumer’s rights to affect the usable content of databases, could reduce the effectiveness of
TeleCheck’s risk management tools or otherwise increase its costs of doing business. Such legislation could also
affect the business of First Data Solutions, which provides access to non-FCRA data for identity verification and
fraud-prevention purposes, by imposing new regulatory requirements or restricting the availability and
completeness of consumer data.
In Australia, FDRA and BWA Merchant Services Pty. Ltd. are subject to the Privacy Act with respect to
obtaining credit reports. No license is currently required but the Act regulates the persons to whom credit reports
can be provided by credit reporting agencies and the uses and disclosures that can be made of the information
contained in credit reports obtained about consumers.
In Greece, D.Man S.A., engages in debt collection activities and is subject to the provisions of the Greek
law “On the Regulation of Notification of Debtors for Overdue Debts Relating to Financial Products” and
registered as a Debt Notification Company under such law.
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Regulation
The Company’s payment instrument businesses are subject to regulation by the U.S., including anti-money
laundering laws and regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of
2001 (collectively, the “BSA”). The BSA, among other things, requires the issuers and sellers of money orders
and official checks to develop and implement risk-based anti-money laundering programs, report large cash
transactions and suspicious activity, and to maintain transaction records.
The Company is also subject to certain economic and trade sanctions programs that are administered by the
Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) that prohibit or restrict transactions to or
from or dealings with specified countries, their governments, and in certain circumstances, their nationals, and
with individuals and entities that are specially-designated nationals of those countries, narcotics traffickers, and
terrorists or terrorist organizations.
Similar anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing and proceeds of crime laws apply to
movements of currency and payments through electronic transactions and to dealings with persons specified in
lists maintained by the country equivalents to the OFAC lists in several other countries and require specific data
retention obligations to be observed by intermediaries in the payment process. The Company’s businesses in
those jurisdictions are subject to those data retention obligations.
The Company has developed and is enhancing global compliance programs to monitor and address legal and
regulatory requirements and developments.
Payment Instrument Licensing and Regulation
The Company is subject to various U.S. federal, state and foreign laws and regulations governing the sale of
payment instruments, such as official checks and money orders.
In the U.S., most states license issuers of payment instruments. Many states exercise authority over the
operations of the Company’s services related to the sale of payment instruments and, as part of this authority,
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