Digital Wallets and Consumer Protection

The rise in the use of digital wallets has presented the law with numerous challenges in terms of the scope of consumer protection. Significant regulatory gaps are present in the application of current consumer protection laws originally developed for offline transactions to new digital payment systems. An analysis of the intersection of technology and consumer protection within the context of new and emerging payment systems is therefore both timely and appropriate. This is due, inter alia, to the pervasive and widespread nature of digital payments/transactions relied upon by both consumers and financial service providers. This article explores the lack of clarity in the law in this area and how this ambiguity negatively impacts upon both consumers and the financial sector in Australia