Patent for Automating Website Verification for Regulation Compliance

A patented method for automatically verifying that regulated finance websites display their required credit disclosures correctly — across every device, in near real time.

This patent was born out of a simple reality: certain finance websites, such as PayPal, must stay compliant with the laws of every country they operate within — finance, banking, and credit law among them. Credit terms and offers, for instance, must carry disclosures that appear above the fold, right next to the offer. A whole body of regulation governs this, including the Truth in Lending Act and the Credit CARD Act of 2009.

But customers browse on desktops, phones, tablets, and more. Between responsive design, screen orientation, and countless other variables, an enormous number of factors must line up to keep every view compliant. And once all of that is designed, programmed, and shipped — what guarantees the credit terms actually appear, reliably, for every customer on every device? Companies spend staggering sums to account for it: ongoing audits, manual checks, and reviews with regulators.

So I created a method to verify it automatically — in near real time, with little human involvement beyond reading the compliance documentation the system produces and handing it to regulators. It cuts down on audits and saves large-scale banking companies hundreds of thousands of dollars every month in compliance work. The patent is held with PayPal.

Read the patent

Open the full patent PDF (US 12,014,376 B2 — 1.7 MB).