Politics, Legal & Regulation

April 21, 2020 @ 7:52 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Barclays announced on Monday it has opened up the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to help large corporate banking clients that are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Barclays reported that through the program, which is backed by a UK Government guarantee, it will… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 5:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Commission (EC) intends on publishing possible legislation for digital assets or crypto-assets in Q3 of 2020. This is according to a statement Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis on behalf of the EC. The reveal was squirreled away in a European Parliament question page. The statement… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 9:16 am By JD Alois  |  

In a widely anticipated move, HM Treasury announced a new package of bailout programs for early-stage ventures that did not qualify for programs initially set into place to support the COVID-19 battered economy. There have been profound concerns that younger, entrepreneurial firms that require ongoing… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 7:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore’s tax authority, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), confirmed that it will not be collecting taxes on airdropped cryptocurrency, provided that the recipients get them  for free. As noted in an income tax treatment guide, released on April 17, 2020, the IRAS clarified… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 6:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

TruNarrative, a solution for financial fraud detection, prevention, anti-money laundering (AML), know-your-customer (KYC), behavioral monitoring and identity verification, has teamed up with AccountScore, a London-based analytics firm offering actionable insights and analytics on banking processes. The partnership involves adding open banking capabilities to the TruNarrative… Read More

April 17, 2020 @ 3:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

SME Marketplace lending platform Funding Circle (LSE:FCH) has been approved by the British Busines Bank as a lender under the  Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). The online lender becomes one of a handful of Fintechs in the UK facilitating the program. Funding Circle said… Read More

April 17, 2020 @ 2:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

As has been widely reported, the Paycheck Protection Program – part of the CARES Act that provided SMEs with 2 months of payroll loans that may be forgiven – has run out of money. The widely lauded plan has struggled to distribute the funds as… Read More

April 17, 2020 @ 9:05 am By JD Alois  |  

This is interesting because it is indicative of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally approved Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) investment in Deliveroo. Before the Coronavirus, the investment was not a given as the CMA was “concerned that… Read More

April 16, 2020 @ 8:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

WeBank, one of China’s first all-digital challenger banks, has revealed that it will begin exploring  the potential integration of DAML, which is an open-source smart contract programming language developed by Digital Asset (the company). The DAML software has been developed in order to help software… Read More

April 16, 2020 @ 4:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

Benchmarking Study Tallies $304.5 Billion in Alternative Finance Transaction Volumes During 2018 The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), part of the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, has published the single most comprehensive report on the evolution of alternative finance. The benchmarking report provides… Read More

April 16, 2020 @ 2:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed fraud charges against Alan Friedland and his companies, Fintech Investment Group, Inc. and Compcoin LLC. The CFTC claims that Friedland and his Florida based firms fraudulently solicited over $1.6 million in connection with a leveraged or margined… Read More

April 16, 2020 @ 12:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

The National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) has published an open letter demanding the Canadian government to engage and leverage Fintechs to help in the battler against the COVID-19 crisis. Addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with several of his Ministers,… Read More

April 16, 2020 @ 11:01 am By JD Alois  |  

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has distributed a statement on Libra’s application for a “payment system license.” Initiated by Facebook, Libra is a digital currency attempting to facilitate payments globally outside of the traditional payments rails. The Libra Association is headquartered in Geneva,… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 11:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Necessity is the mother of invention. This we know. Sportsbet, an Australian online bookmaker, saw betting tank just like most other businesses as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. At the end of March Stuart Allott, Sportsbet head of corporate affairs, told BI Australia: “Given the unprecedented… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 10:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Commission DG FISMA (The Directorate‑General for Financial Stability, Financial Services, and Capital Markets Union is the Commission department responsible for EU policy on banking and finance) has scheduled a series of virtual roundtables tackling Fintech topics. The series is an outreach program that… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 6:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Maker Foundation, which supports the ongoing development of MakerDAO, a leading decentralized Ethereum (ETH)-powered lending facility. The suit alleges that the foundation intentionally misrepresented the risks potential investors in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem could face. The… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 5:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

This month, the European Commission kicked off a consultation on the future of digital finance and Fintech. Simultaneously a consultation on payments was announced. The Fintech consultation opens by explaining the following: “Digitalisation is transforming the European financial system and the provision of financial services… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 3:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Special Purpose Vehicles or “SPVs” have long been requested by FINRA regulated platforms participating in the Reg CF sector of crowdfunding. Under current rules, SPVs are not allowed to be utilized. This may soon change as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed enabling… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 8:04 am By Omar Faridi  |  

North Sydney-headquartered Frollo has introduced a product data API service for banks, which helps data holders with adhering to relevant Open Banking regulations. The API solution satisfies the requirements specified by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) initial guidelines. Frollo is notably one of… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 1:05 am By Omar Faridi  |  

India-based HDFC Bank, the nation’s largest private sector lender, recently issued a warning regarding a potential increase in fraudulent activities online, including phishing scams. Sameer Ratolikar, chief information security officer at HDFC Bank, said during a conference call that the cybercriminals and hackers could begin… Read More