Why Washington wants to treat Apple and Google like big banks

A Washington watchdog wants to police Big Tech like it it does big banks, meaning greater scrutiny for popular mobile payment systems operated by Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). A new rule proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would require nonbank financial companies handling more than 5 million transactions per year to follow the same rules as giant lenders already supervised by the CFPB. That means tougher oversight for popular payment apps like Apple Pay and Alphabet’s Google Pay that millions of Americans use to move money via their phones. While the CFPB already has the ability to…