The article reviews a federal district court decision holding that a bank may be liable under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) for unauthorized consumer wires initiated using a bank’s electronic banking platforms. In an apparent departure from decades of jurisprudence acknowledging the exemption of wire transfers from the ambit of the EFTA, one federal district court, in New York v. Citibank, N.A., recently found that a bank may be liable under EFTA for unauthorized consumer wires initiated using a bank’s electronic banking platforms. While this ruling is not binding authority in any federal circuit and might not sway other courts to adopt its logic, it does signal a need for financial institutions to prepare for legal challenges to their policies and practices regarding wire transfers.
"Federal District Court Finds Consumer Wire Transfers Are Subject to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act," The Banking Law Journal, June 2025
