December 20, 2017 – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

What the CFPB Leadership Dispute Means for the Prepaid Account Rule

Dec 20 2017

By Eric A. Love and Dan S. Cohen

With Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney in place as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and a legal challenge to his appointment to that position brought by CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English continuing to proceed through the courts, prepaid industry participants are rightly asking what this ongoing leadership dispute means for the CFPB’s sweeping Final Rule amending Regulation E and Regulation Z as applied to prepaid accounts.

ASIC Fintech Sandbox Here To Stay

Dec 20 2017

By Jim Bulling, Michelle Chasser and Edwin Tan

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) released a consultation paper on 12 December 2017 seeking feedback on its fintech licensing exemption, also known as the regulatory sandbox. Following comment, ASIC will review whether the exemption is operating as intended, and consider whether it should be broadened or changed in any other way.

The licensing exemption allows eligible businesses to provide certain financial products and services for up to 12 months without a valid Australian Financial Services or credit licence. Contrary to the strategy of the UK Financial Conduct Authority, ASIC does not take an active approach in selecting applicants and negotiating individual terms for each entity using the exemption.

Bitcoin Remarks by UK FCA Head

Dec 20 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

Andrew Bailey, the Chief Executive of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), recently gave an interview to the BBC in connection with bitcoin. In remarks on 14 December, Mr Bailey said that he currently sees no systemic risk in bitcoin and is not pushing the UK government to make the cryptocurrency part of the FCA’s regulatory remit. He emphasised that investors should be prepared to lose everything if they buy bitcoin, however as long as people understood the risks of what he termed “a very volatile commodity”, he would not press the UK government to legislate that the FCA regulate it. He said “I don’t think bitcoin is prevalent enough at the moment to be a systemic threat in the way we experienced during the financial crisis other threats; it needs watching carefully but I don’t think we’re there yet… If I thought there was evidence of people saying: ‘You know what I’m going to put my pension into? bitcoin!’ I’d be very concerned, but we don’t see that at the moment.”.

FCA comment on ICOs

Dec 20 2017

By Rizwan Qayyum

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released a feedback statement on the Distributed Ledger technology discussion paper from April 2017 (DP17/3).

As a part of this, they commented on ICOs, noting:

“On the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) market, the FCA will gather further evidence and conduct a deeper examination of the fast-paced developments. Its findings will help to determine whether or not there is need for further regulatory action in this area beyond the consumer warning issued in September”

The feedback is available here.

Archive:December 20, 2017