On June 8, 2022, the N.Y. Department of Financial Services (the “DFS”) issued guidance on when it will approve issuance by entities it regulates, including those that receive the “BitLicense” to engage in virtual currency business, of stablecoins. Among other things, the DFS says that for approval of issuance, it will require: (i) that stablecoins… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Financial Institutions
Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020
On January 1, 2021, the U.S. federal Congress overrode then President Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (the “NDAA”), effectively adopting the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 and the Corporate Transparecy Act (together, the “Act”) incorporated within it. While the NDAA is very long, among many other things, the Act provides, largely by… Read more »
FINRA Establishes Office of Financial Innovation
In a press release dated April 24, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that it had established the Office of Financial Innovation. The office is focused on financial technology, otherwise known as FinTech. Haimera Workie, originally a graduate of MIT and Harvard and now a Senior Director at FINRA, has been named it… Read more »
Financial Stability Board Suggests New Asset Class for Crypto-Assets
On July 16, 2018, the international Financial Stability Board published a report in which it proposed that a new asset class be established under Basel III for crypto assets. The report was done for the G20, and made clear that the FSB does not see crypto-assets as posing a material risk to global financial stability at… Read more »
FinCEN Guidance on AML Customer Due Diligence Rules to Become Fully Effective May 11, 2018
The Finance Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) of the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees most of the federal anti-money laundering (“AML”) regulations, issued Customer Due Diligence (“CDD”) rules on May 11, 2016, that are to become fully effective on May 11, 2018. These rules apply to AML diligence to be done by covered U.S. financial institutions,… Read more »
CFTC Issues Report on Virtual Currencies
On October 17, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commision’s (the “CFTC”) LabCFTC, the CFTC’s division launched this year to look at financial technology (“FinTech”), issued a press release and its first primer (in the form of an outline on slides) called “A CFTC Primer on Virtual Currencies” (the “Primer”). Perhaps the most important statement in the… Read more »
Second Treasury Report on Changes to Dodd-Frank
In response to Executive Order 13772 on Core Principles for Regulating the U.S. Financial System, February 3, 2017, the U.S. Treasury (the “Treasury”) issued its second report on October 6, 2017, entitled “A Financial System that Creates Economic Opportunities: Capital Markets” (the “Report”). after the first report on banks and credit unions was released in… Read more »
Treasury Report on Changes to Dodd-Frank
In response to Executive Order 13772 on Core Principles for Regulating the U.S. Financial System, February 3, 2017, the U.S. Treasury (the “Treasury”) issued its first report on June 12, 2017, entitled “A Financial System that Creates Economic Opportunities: Banks and Credit Unions” (the “Report”) and a press release. The lengthy Report recommends extensive changes… Read more »
U.K. Anti-Money Laundering Regulation Updated
The United Kingdom has published a near final regulation, the Money Laundering and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (the “Regulation”) under the E.U. Fourth Money Laundering Directive, to replace the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. The Regulation is due to go into effect on June 26, 2017, although it may be delayed. Under the… Read more »
Non-EU AIFs to be Subject to EU Rules
On May 4, 2017, the EU Commission adopted proposals to amend the current European Market Infrastructure Regulation (“EMIR”). The proposals contain a number of possible changes, but among them is a proposed change to the definition “financial counterparty” to include an Alternative Investment Fund (“AIF”), whether established in the EU or outside the EU, even if its manager is… Read more »