Politics, Legal & Regulation

April 4, 2020 @ 4:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) cautioned an SEC Committee about the potential for fraud during the COVID-19 outbreak. NASAA is the lobbying group that represents state and provincial securities regulators. Christopher W. Gerold, NASAA President and Chief of the New Jersey Bureau… Read More

April 3, 2020 @ 10:04 am By JD Alois  |  

Following intense criticism regarding the confines of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), HM Treasury expanded the program in a move to support a broader range of businesses – most importantly smaller firms. Last week, Rangewell, a business finance specialist, posted an open letter… Read More

April 3, 2020 @ 7:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Wolters Kluwer’s Compliance Program Management (CPM) business has introduced the Coronavirus Noteworthy Developments Bulletins, which aim to bring together all the global regulatory modifications, orders, notices and various other updates for the financial services sector (as they relate to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak). The newly… Read More

April 3, 2020 @ 7:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Spain’s tax authorities have begun sending warning letters to around 66,000 digital asset investors. The Spanish tax agency aims to remind cryptocurrency holders of their tax obligations. The Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria (AEAT) reportedly began its crypto-related tax collection campaign on April 1, 2020…. Read More

April 2, 2020 @ 7:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has announced new measures to support firms impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The update includes broader access to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and creating a new plan for larger firms. The Chancellor announced that HM Treasury… Read More

April 2, 2020 @ 2:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week the SEC Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation announced a series of  “virtual coffee breaks” to engage with the public to discuss updates, trends, and perspectives on how COVID-19 is impacting raising capital. The very first virtual gather is… Read More

April 2, 2020 @ 1:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee met today in a teleconference to discuss the impact of COVID-19 and small business. In brief, several Committee members expressed the opinion that it is going to be really bad. Martha Legg Miller,… Read More

April 2, 2020 @ 10:49 am By JD Alois  |  

The Banque de France – the central bank of France – has issued a call for applications to conduct a central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment with the bank. According to the publication, the work relating to the experiments is being coordinated by the Infrastructures,… Read More

April 2, 2020 @ 8:08 am By JD Alois  |  

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has published its annual report for 2019. FINMA said that blockchain technology continued to “preoccupy FINMA intensively.” FINMA currently oversees over 29,200 financial services firms and products. FINMA said it is increasingly seeing the development of digital securities… Read More

April 1, 2020 @ 7:41 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The planned introduction of Russia’s cryptocurrency laws and regulations have been delayed again, due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Anatoly Aksakov, chairman at the Russian State Duma committee on financial markets, claims that the nation’s virtual currency law, the bill “On Digital Financial Assets,” has… Read More

March 31, 2020 @ 5:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

Tripoint Global Equities, an early advocate of issuing securities under updated rules for Reg A+, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to shut down its broker-dealer . The information was part of a recently filed Focus report. To quote the document: “On March 13,… Read More

March 31, 2020 @ 12:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied a requested rule change by the BOX Exchange to amend the fee schedule affiliated with entities that connect to the BOX network. On March 29, 2019, the Division of Trading and Markets at the SEC issued an… Read More

March 31, 2020 @ 11:46 am By Karsten Wenzlaff and Ronald Kleverlaan  |  

The Crowdfunding industry is well aware of what economists call externalities – the fact that behavior of some people has an unintended impact on other people. Positive externalities can be observed on the Crowdfunding platforms every day due to the willingness of people to join… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 6:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced two meetings of Committees that provide recommendations to the Commission. The Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies Meeting and the Investor Advisory Committee will both be holding meetings on Thursday, April 2, 2020…. Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 2:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

Seedrs founder and Chairman Jeff Lynn has distributed his thoughts on the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK government’s approach to aid the struggling economy – more specifically for early-stage firms. Lynn dices the issue up between the Good, the Bad and… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 12:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency research and tracking platform that provides services to both the public and private sector, has distributed a note that it is meeting with Japanese financial regulators to review the relatively new FATF travel rules and its impact on “virtual asset service providers… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 11:25 am By JD Alois  |  

The Australian Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology (ie Fintech and Regtech) has re-opened a consultation in light of the ongoing Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Australian Parliament: “Since the committee finished its last round of public hearings in February, Australia’s… Read More

March 29, 2020 @ 4:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Global banking regulators released a statement on March 27, 2020 in which they noted that elements of the Basel III banking rules reform that have not yet been finalized will be delayed for at least a year, because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The release… Read More

March 29, 2020 @ 3:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is alleging that several Venezuelan leaders and politicians, including President Nicolas Maduro, took advantage of their positions, financial systems, and virtual currencies to conceal and carry out criminal activity for more than two decades. An indictment released on March… Read More

March 28, 2020 @ 8:58 am By Barry James  |  

Why we may not be surprised but we must be outraged! The banks are a danger to our society – and, according to the BIS (the Centralbank’s Central Bank)  an unnecessary one at that. The UK government has over the last two weeks taken unprecedented… Read More