FinTech Industry & Regulation – Page 19 – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

K&L Gates Becomes One of First Major Law Firms to Implement Own Private Blockchain

Oct 25 2017

K&L Gates has undertaken plans to establish an internal, private and permissioned blockchain to assist in the exploration, creation, and implementation of smart contracts and other technology applications for future client use.

“We are hearing from our lawyers globally who are excited about getting hands-on experience working with blockchain applications,” commented K&L Gates Global Managing Partner James Segerdahl. “By investing in this technology that is expected to significantly impact the practice of law, K&L Gates is committed to finding practical and timely solutions that benefit both our clients and the firm.”

Next FinTech Steps in Bahrain

Oct 25 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has announced the creation of a FinTech Unit. The aim of the Unit is to ensure the services are provided to individual and corporate customers in the FinTech sector. The announcement follows the CBB’s recent initiatives, which include a Regulatory Sandbox (which four companies have entered to date), in addition to the issuance of crowdfunding regulations for both conventional and Sharia compliant services.

The proposed Fintech Unit will be responsible for the approval process to participate in the Regulatory Sandbox, supervision of licensed companies’ activities and operations, including cloud computing, payment and settlement systems, and monitoring technical and regulatory developments in the FinTech field.

ASIC provides responses to industry feedback on its current and future approaches to RegTech

Oct 18 2017

By Michelle Chasser and Felix Charlesworth

On 15 September 2017, ASIC released its responses to industry feedback on its consultation Report 523 (REP 523). As mentioned in an earlier blog, REP 523 sets out the structure and framework for ASIC’s ‘Innovation Hub’ as well as its current and future approach to regulatory technology (RegTech).

Bank of England FinTech Accelerator Lessons

Oct 16 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

In remarks on 6 October: The Bank of England’s FinTech Accelerator: what have we done and what have we learned?, Andrew Hauser (Executive Director, Banking, Payments and Financial Resilience) surveyed the Bank’s current and future contributions to the FinTech regulatory debate.

Mr Hauser predicts that traditional distinctions between regulated and unregulated activities will blur as conventional models of intermediation being progressively ‘unbundled’. He posed questions about judging the appropriate positioning of the regulatory perimeter to ensure that risks are appropriately overseen whilst allowing valuable innovation to flourish. He highlighted a Proof of Concept within the Bank’s accelerator, Enforcd, which examines tools allowing the Bank’s legal team to draw out common trends in publicly available regulatory enforcement actions in order to inform the Bank’s own work.

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.

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.

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.

FinTech in Taiwan: Regulatory Efforts and the Need for Speed

Oct 03 2017

By Joseph P.Y. Tseng

To encourage financial services industry and the related industry to apply innovative technology for enhancing financial accessibility, practicability, and quality, on May 4, 2017, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan proposed the bill called “Financial Technology Innovation Experimentation Act” (the “Bill”) to create its version of “regulatory sandbox.” It would enable experimenting innovative financial technology within a well-defined space and duration under relaxed legal requirements.

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Category:FinTech Industry & Regulation