Tag: FinTech

1
SEC’s Stunning Enforcement Actions against Binance and Coinbase
2
Australia: ASIC revises its IDR reporting framework – are you ready?
3
AUSTRALIA: Treasury Releases Token Mapping Consultation Paper
4
California Legislators Continue To Assess How To Regulate Digital Assets
5
CFPB Issues Advisory Opinion Strictly Interpreting Permissible Purpose for Consumer Reports
6
Change Is Constant* and There’s a lot of Regulatory Change Happening in the UK – Impacting Fintechs and Crypto Asset companies.
7
Let Me In: Wyoming Special Purpose Bank Sues Fed for Access to Payments System
8
The Future of Stable (Bank) Coins?: President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Urges Legislation Limiting Stablecoins to Insured Banks
9
California Imposes Additional Requirements on Money Transmitters
10
Satoshi Goes to Washington : Senator Toomey Issues RFI to Inform Digital Asset Legislation

SEC’s Stunning Enforcement Actions against Binance and Coinbase

By Drew Hinkes, Cliff Histed, Judie Rinearson, Eden Rohrer, Max Black

In a stunning move, over the last two days, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has filed back-to-back enforcement actions against major crypto exchanges Binance (See https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2023/comp-pr2023-101.pdf) and Coinbase (See https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2023/comp-pr2023-102.pdf . This clearly indicates that the SEC is flexing its enforcement power over both international exchanges as well as those exchanges with a focus on the United States.

Read More

Australia: ASIC revises its IDR reporting framework – are you ready?

By Daniel Knight and Hugo Chow

All holders of an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) with a retail client authorisation will need to comply with ASIC’s internal dispute resolution (IDR) reporting framework. Summary reports will need to be provided to ASIC on a 6 monthly basis, highlighting the status of each client complaint. Reporting obligations commence from 1 July 2023 (for reporting in January or February 2024). AFSL holders should put systems in place now to ensure all required information is being captured.

Read More

AUSTRALIA: Treasury Releases Token Mapping Consultation Paper

By Daniel Knight and Oliver Herrmann

New licensing requirements for crypto service providers are coming, following a series of consultations launched last week by Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. The Government approach focuses on strengthening enforcement, bolstering consumer protection and ultimately establishing a new licensing framework.

Read More

CFPB Issues Advisory Opinion Strictly Interpreting Permissible Purpose for Consumer Reports

By Grant F. Butler

On July 12, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued an advisory opinion that states its strict interpretation of the permissible purposes for which a consumer reporting agency may provide a consumer report and for which consumer report users may obtain consumer reports.  Section 604(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) identifies the “permissible purposes” for which a consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report. 

Read More

Change Is Constant* and There’s a lot of Regulatory Change Happening in the UK – Impacting Fintechs and Crypto Asset companies.

By Kai Zhang

Critical third party regime

This is to address the concentration issue where financial services firms outsource key functions/services to a few large service providers (e.g. cloud service providers). HM Treasury will designate which third party service providers are considered “critical”. Then the relevant regulators will be given power to make rules supervising them with respect to certain “material services”. See policy statement of 8 June.

Read More

Let Me In: Wyoming Special Purpose Bank Sues Fed for Access to Payments System

By Grant F. Butler, Andrew M. Hinkes, and Robert M. Tammero, Jr.

Custodia Bank (“Custodia”) filed a complaint against the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (“FRBKC”) in Wyoming federal court alleging that the FRB and FRBKC are unlawfully refusing to act on Custodia’s application for a master account.  A Federal Reserve master account allows banks to directly access the Federal Reserve and utilize the Federal Reserve System’s payment, clearing and settlement services. 

Read More

The Future of Stable (Bank) Coins?: President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Urges Legislation Limiting Stablecoins to Insured Banks

By Judith Rinearson, Jeremy M. McLaughlin, and Daniel S. Nuñez Cohen

On 1 November 2021, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG), in conjunction with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Comptroller of the Currency, issued a long-awaited joint “Report on Stablecoins” (Report). Per the press release (and a speech by Undersecretary of Treasury Nellie Liang), the Report is intended to “identify regulatory gaps related to “payment stablecoins” (defined as stablecoins that are designed to maintain a stable value and “therefore have potential to be used as widespread means of payment”), and to present recommendations for addressing those gaps.”

Read More

California Imposes Additional Requirements on Money Transmitters

By Jeremy M. McLaughlin

Under a newly-enacted law, money transmitters licensed in California must comply with new customer service requirements starting on July 1, 2022. Under the requirements, a licensee must “prominently display on its internet website a toll-free telephone number through which a customer may contact the licensee for customer service issues and receive live customer assistance.” The line must be operative at least 10 hours a day, Monday through Friday. In addition, California law currently requires a money transmitter to provide a receipt for transactions. Under the new requirements, the receipt must also provide the telephone number through which the customer may contact the licensee for customer service issues.

Satoshi Goes to Washington : Senator Toomey Issues RFI to Inform Digital Asset Legislation

By Jeremy M. McLaughlin, Judith Rinearson, and Daniel S. Cohen

As we have noted in the past, federal regulation of the digital asset/cryptocurrency/DeFi community is evolving and there are many perspectives on what direction it should take. For instance, earlier this week, the House Democratic leadership and a group of moderate House Democrats agreed to a compromise that would prevent the House of Representatives from amending the Senate-passed “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” (H.R. 3684), thereby preserving the bill’s provisions expanding the definition of “broker” under the Internal Revenue Code to apply to various digital asset market participants.

Read More

Copyright © 2023, K&L Gates LLP. All Rights Reserved.