B6| Friday, September 13, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Lauren Petterson will continue
to manage Fox News Channel’s
talent development.FOX NEWS MEDIAFox News Media said Lauren
Petterson is the new president
of Fox Business Network.
Ms. Petterson, who has been
overseeing Fox News Channel’s
talent development, takes over
for Brian Jones, who is leaving
the company, according to Fox
News Media, which is owned
byFoxCorp. Mr. Jones has
been Fox Business Network’s
president since May 2017 and
led the team that launched the
business channel in 2007.
Ms. Petterson started at Fox
News in 2007 and left for a
brief time before rejoining the
channel in 2008, Fox News Me-
dia said. Fox Corp. and The Wall
Street Journal parent News
Corpshare common ownership.
BYALLISONPRANG
group, petitioned the agency
to open a defect probe after
finding 87 complaints about
false braking. At the time,
NHTSA requested information
from Nissan about the braking
issues.
In the filing made public
Thursday, NHTSA said it ac-
cepted the safety group’s peti-
tion and opened a preliminary
evaluation after Nissan told
the agency that it had received750 complaints.
Nissan said it had investi-
gated the issue and, after con-
sultation with NHTSA, invited
customers to bring their vehi-
cles to dealerships for a free
software update to improve
the automatic-braking sys-
tem’s performance.
Safety researchers have
said such systems are helping
to prevent crashes. In June,
the Insurance Institute forHighway Safety, a group
backed by car insurers, said
that cars with automatic-brak-
ing features see rates of rear-
end collisions reduced by half.
About 45% of model-year
2018 vehicles sold in the U.S.
last year were equipped with
automatic-braking systems,
according to research firm
Wards Intelligence. Nearly all
major auto makers have com-
mitted to making it a standardfeature across their U.S. line-
ups by 2022.
Still, complaints have
grown as the technology has
become more widespread. Last
month, The Wall Street Jour-
nal reported that hundreds of
drivers had complained to
NHTSA about automatic-brak-
ing technology on a range of
models by different manufac-
turers, highlighting some of
the difficulties auto makersface implementing partially
automated safety systems and
ensuring drivers understand
how they function.
Nissan said last month that
it had identified problems
with brakes improperly de-
ploying under certain road
conditions. It described its
software fix as a customer-
service campaign, rather than
a recall. The Center for Auto
Safety is pressing for a recall.BUSINESS NEWS
Federal safety regulators
are taking a closer look into
the automatic emergency-
braking system on more than
a half-million Nissan Rogue
sport-utility vehicles, which
owners complain can cause
their vehicles to slam on the
brakes for no reason.
The National Highway Traf-
fic Safety Administration cited
843 individual complaints
about the feature on model-
year 2017 and 2018 Rogues,
Nissan MotorCo.’s best-sell-
ing U.S. model. The complaints
included 14 crashes resulting
in five injuries, the agency
said.
Nissan’s feature uses radar
on the front of the car to de-
tect objects in the road and
can apply the brakes when it
senses a potential collision.
Owners have complained that
the system activates when no
danger is present, bringing the
car to an abrupt stop at high-
way speeds or while crossing
railroad tracks, for example.
The investigation, which
NHTSA said covers more than
550,000 vehicles, is the largest
such action taken by the regu-
lator into a potential problem
with an automated driver-as-
sistance feature, vehicle safety
advocates said. The technolo-
gies, which can steer a drifting
car back into its lane or main-
tain a safe distance while on
cruise control, aim to prevent
crashes by sensing dangers to
the car and can, in some cases,
take control from the driver.
NHTSA’s investigation into
the Rogue began this spring
after the Center for Auto
Safety, a nonprofit advocacy
BYBENFOLDY
Regulators Step Up Nissan Brake Probe
Complaints about
activation of automatic
system spur inquiry
into 550,000 Rogues
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cited 843 complaints about the feature on 2017 and 2018 Rogue SUVs, the auto maker’s best-sellingU.S. model.BOB RIHA JR./EPA/SHUTTERSTOCKments, lending and wealth-
management businesses from
which they are trying to take
market share.
Square said in its complaint
that its San Francisco opera-
tions more closely resemble a
technology company than a fi-
nancial-services firm.
“Square’s production pro-
cesses are primarily focused
on the development and pro-
duction of software,” the com-
pany said in a complaint filed
in California state court. “The
vast majority of Square’s em-
ployees are either software
engineers or employees sup-
porting them.”
Square also said in its law-
suit that San Francisco over-
states Square’s gross receipts
because it includes money that
the company doesn’t get to
keep. Square takes a 2.75% cutof most credit-card payments
to its small-business custom-
ers.
More than half of what
Square derives from those
transactions must be paid out
to banks and credit-card net-
works, the company said.
“We have and will continue
to pay our fair share, but
when we’re treated differently
than other companies and
taxed on money we never ac-
tually receive, this is not fair
or consistent,” a Square
spokeswoman said.
San Francisco’s treasurer
and tax collector, Jose Cis-
neros, said his office’s audit of
Square was “thorough and
fair” and that he stands by its
findings. Mr. Cisneros is also a
defendant in the case.
Last year, Square Chief Ex-
ecutive Jack Dorsey opposed alocal ballot measure, Proposi-
tion C, that would increase
taxes on Square and other
businesses to raise money to
fight homelessness in San
Francisco.
Salesforce.com Inc. CEO
Marc Benioff rebuked Mr.
Dorsey for his position and
questioned how much he had
given back to the city.
Square “would be taxed at a
significantly larger total con-
tribution than much larger
companies like Salesforce,”
Mr. Dorsey wrote on Twitter
last October, saying the mea-
sure was unfair to Square and
fintech startups.
San Francisco voters ap-
proved Proposition C in Novem-
ber.
A month later, Square said it
would open an office across the
Bay Bridge in Oakland.diluting the value of credit
scores and reports. Others say
the alternative metrics, like a
consumer’s reliability in paying
electric bills, don’t translate
into a likelihood they will repay
their loans.
Consumers with thin credit
files are more likely to default
on their loans, though the ma-
jority of them perform well, ac-
cording to TransUnion. FICO
estimates that about one-thirdContinued from page B1The payment-processing company sued San Francisco in an effort to pay a lower city tax rate.DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWSof people who don’t have credit
scores had a major negative
event like a bankruptcy at some
point in their past.
Goldman Sachs started mak-
ing personal loans in 2016, part
of a bigger move into consumer
banking. Among other factors,
it considers whether applicants
overdraw their checking ac-
counts.
A Goldman Sachs spokesman
said the bank has “built a tech-
nology and data architecture
that can ingest and use multi-
ple sources of data to make the
best decisions for the customer
and the bank.”
Some would-be borrowers
have low credit scores because
of a limited U.S. borrowing his-
tory. Per Breivik said he had a
credit score in the low 300s af-
ter he moved to Houston fromLondon last year, and had trou-
ble getting a credit card.
Mr. Breivik, who runs main-
tenance for a drilling company,
turned toHSBC HoldingsPLC.
“I said, ‘We need to try to work
something out. I have all this
history with you guys,’” he said,
referencing deposit accounts
with the bank abroad.
HSBC reviewed his relation-
ship with the bank, including
his record of repaying an HSBC
credit card he had before he
moved to the U.S., and ap-
proved him for a U.S. card.
Some lenders are working
with fintechs that assess con-
sumers’ purchase data to deter-
mine risk. FintechZestFinance,
for example, says applicants
who spend more at grocery
stores than on eating out tend
to be a lower risk, as are thosewho shop at discount stores or
are registered to vote.
Angel Hernandez, a 42-year-
old maintenance worker, used
cash for almost everything for
much of his adult life. He has
twice tappedSpring Bankfor
loans to pay for funeral and
travel expenses when relatives
died. Spring Bank, based in the
Bronx, N.Y., lends to consumers
with little to no credit history.
The bank verified Mr. Her-
nandez’s income with his em-
ployer. It also had him set up a
savings account at Spring Bank
where a portion of his paycheck
was regularly deposited. Spring
Bank made withdrawals from it
to repay the loan.
Mr. Hernandez recently re-
ceived his first credit card of-
fers in the mail. He has since
signed up for several cards.Lenders
Revise
Loan Tools
SquareInc. has lent $5 bil-
lion to small businesses and
consumers and applied for a
banking license. It operates a
nationwide mobile money-
transfer business that serves
15 million Americans.
But Square says it isn’t a fi-
nancial company.
The San Francisco-based
payments processor filed a
lawsuit last week against its
home city to recover $1.3 mil-
lion in taxes, plus interest and
attorneys’ fees.
Square argued that San
Francisco was wrong to clas-
sify it as a financial company
for tax purposes because it is
a technology company that
should be subject to a lower
tax rate.
San Francisco charges fi-
nancial-services companies a
tax rate between about 0.40%
and 0.56% of their gross re-
ceipts. Tech companies pay be-
tween about 0.13% and 0.48%.
The refund Square is seek-
ing from San Francisco relates
to excess taxes it believes it
paid for 2014 and 2015. Square
disclosed in a securities filing
that it may have to pay San
Francisco additional taxes for
subsequent years if it was un-
able to convince the city it
was a tech company.
Financial-technology com-
panies have been darlings of
Silicon Valley in recent years.
Startups such as Robinhood
Markets Inc., Social Finance
Inc. and Stripe Inc. have suc-
ceeded in convincing investors
that they should be valued
more like makers of software
than the established pay-BYPETERRUDEGEAIRDon’t Tax Us Like a Bank, Square Says
Fox Names a New Leader
At Business Network