October 2017 – Page 2 – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

Taiwan takes a stance on ICOs

Oct 16 2017

On 6 October 2017, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission chairman, Wellington Koo, attended a joint session of the Taiwanese parliament and cabinet in response to a request by legislator Jason Hsu to clarify Taiwan’s stance on cryptocurrency. During the session Koo pledged to adopt a friendlier stance to support the development of cryptocurrencies and blockchain and not follow neighbours China and South Korea who both recently banned initial coin offerings (ICOs).

This move appears to be well received by Hsu who stated “Just because China and South Korea are banning, doesn’t mean that Taiwan should follow suit – there is a huge opportunity for growth in the future. We should emulate Japan, where they treat cryptocurrency as a highly regulated, highly monitored industry like securities.”

Abu Dhabi Global Market sets out guidance on ICOs

Oct 16 2017

By Rizwan Qayyum

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has released guidelines on ICOs and Virtual Currencies.

Much like other guidance, consumer protection is the key motivating factor behind this release. It notes that if an ICO has characteristics of a security, i.e. some associated right of ownership or value in the issuing company, then the FSRA will regulate. Christopher Kiew Smith, head of FinTech at the FSRA discusses the “incredibly diverse” market of quality of ICOs and thus some of the tokens issued will be of high-risk for consumers.

The FSRA appear to want to work with firms who aim to use ICOs in a “transparent fashion”. Under the issued guidelines, companies wishing to execute an ICO must approach the FSRA to learn whether it will fall under the body’s regulation. Companies will also be requested to publish a prospectus (which is assuming similar to a current white paper, but the extent of information required in this was not mentioned), and further, secondary market operators dealing with ICOs must also be approved by the FSRA.

There are, however, some ICOs that will remain unregulated. If a token issued as part of an ICO does not constitute an “offer of securities” it will remain unregulated. In such instances, the regulator said investors should exercise “extreme caution” before committing money.

The FSRA also commented on virtual currencies, noting that these are not legal tender, but seen as “commodities”; akin to precious metals. As such, these remain unregulated.

Meet us at Money20/20!

Oct 12 2017

K&L Gates is excited to be a part of Money20/20, the largest global event focused on payments and financial services innovation! Join us from October 22nd – 24th in Las Vegas, U.S.

We have several exciting events and programs taking place during the conference.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s David Geale on FinTech regulation

Oct 12 2017

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

On 27 September 2017, Fintech Melbourne in partnership with the UK’s Department for International Trade hosted an event on FinTech regulation with the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Director of Policy David Geale.

Interesting points from the night included:

The FCA has been, and continues to be, actively involved in engaging in dialogue with industry participants, both large firms and smaller start-ups.
As with other global regulators, the FCA is currently focused on blockchain, its potential effect on the market and the FCA’s role. The FCA released a discussion paper on distributed ledger technology earlier this year
The FCA recently issued an initial coin offering consumer alert.
The number of firms applying for the FCA’s regulatory sandbox exceeded initial expectations.
Some of the more interesting concepts that David has seen come through the sandbox put existing technology to a different use such as alternative credit scoring methods (eg using social media) and connected insurance (eg using fitbit data to determine insurance premiums).
Some UK firms have been experimenting with using videos to convey regulatory disclosures.
Digital identity and open banking are areas of interest going forward.

ICOs in Switzerland

Oct 12 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) issued guidance on initial coin offerings (ICOs) on 29 September. FINMA has observed a marked increase in ICOs conducted in Switzerland. It has therefore published FINMA Guidance 04/2017 on this topic. FINMA has also indicated that it is investigating a number of ICO cases to determine whether Swiss regulatory provisions have been breached.

FINMA observes that the structuring of ICOs from technical, functional and business standpoints varies markedly from offering to offering. ICOs are currently not governed by specific regulations, either globally or in Switzerland. Swiss legislation on financial markets is principle-based; one such principle is technology neutrality. Collecting funds for one’s own account without a platform or issuing house is unregulated from a supervisory perspective in cases where repayment is not obliged, payment instruments have not been issued and no secondary market exists.

Federal Reserve Board outlines next steps for faster payments

Oct 11 2017

By Eric A. Love

The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) has released a paper entitled “Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System: Next Steps in the Payments Improvement Journey” (the Strategies Paper). The Strategies Paper builds upon the FRB’s “first steps” for enhancing the U.S. payment system (which were described in a 2015 FRB paper) and details the next phase of this work. It includes an assessment of ambitious proposals made by the Faster Payments Task Force and the Secure Payments Task Force.

Hong Kong launches regulatory sandbox

Oct 11 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) launched a regulatory sandbox on 29 September. The sandbox provides a confined regulatory environment for qualified firms to operate regulated activities under the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) before FinTech is used on a fuller scale to the wider public. The SFC emphasises the importance of the integrity of the market and investors’ interests, and says it will not compromise regulatory requirements which are key to investor protection. For example, a qualified firm operating in the sandbox must be fit and proper and must comply with the applicable financial resources requirements.

France moves forward with Blockchain for certain securities exchanges

Oct 09 2017

By Claude-Étienne Armingaud and Emilie Oberlis

Following the adoption of Act no.2016-1691, dated 9 December 2016, on Transparency, Anti-Corruption, and Modernization of Economic Life (“Sapin II” – see our compliance coverage here) and the publication of its responses to a public consultation request on 30 August 2017 (see our coverage here), the French Ministry of Finance published a draft document aimed at adapting the French legal framework to the use of blockchain technology.

The draft (which may be accessed in French here) addresses the possibility for companies, to register the following instruments with a “shared electronic registry”:

Negotiable debt securities;
Units or shares of undertakings for collective investment;
Capital securities issued by corporations and debt securities other than negotiable debt securities, provided that they are not traded on a trading platform.

Future of FinTech conference London

Oct 06 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

At the Telegraph Future of FinTech conference in London on 28 September several regulatory-related themes emerged:

There will soon be more money outside the regulated environment rather than inside, the tipping point is approaching
Currencies are no longer the sole domain of sovereign countries and regulated central banks
Some regulators are competing to attract the industry to their jurisdiction and are generally agnostic about the technology used to deliver the financial service
Open Banking in the UK from 13 January 2018 will usher in a new era of transparency across a UK customer’s whole financial life
Brexit is not a major focus for the UK FinTech industry or its regulators, the biggest challenge is acquiring talent
Using vehicles such as IOSCO to promote regulator cooperation and cross-border regulation for FinTech; genuine common standards are a goal
Financial regulators in many countries are struggling to keep up with the industry due to high workload on other issues and limited resources
Talent is flowing between the industry and regulators
Artificial intelligence, blockchain, PropTech and ICOs were identified as the “hot” areas

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Global Market announce Memorandum of Understanding

Oct 06 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

On 25 September, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial centre (IFC) in Abu Dhabi, via its Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB). The aim of the MoU is to seek opportunities to collaborate and consult on initiatives to promote the growth and development of the FinTech ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under its terms, ADIB will partner with the FSRA across a range of Islamic-compliant FinTech-related initiatives. This partnership adds to ADGM’s FinTech commitment through the Abu Dhabi Regulatory Laboratory (RegLab) — a regulatory framework that offers a controlled environment for FinTech innovators to develop and test their products and services with the regulator.

Archive:October 2017