FinTech licence: FINMA publishes guidelines
From 2019, interested parties can apply for the new FinTech licence. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is responsible for granting this licence. It has published guidelines aimed at simplifying the application process. To boost innovative financial companies, the Swiss parliament has introduced the new FinTech licence (persons under Article 1b of the Banking […]
Billionaire Mike Novogratz Says Crypto ICO Market is Pretty Much Dead Now
Today, the initial coin offering (ICO) market has pain written all over it. A once-popular mechanism, used by blockchain startups to raise funds using crypto to develop their products, lured speculators into investing billions of dollars for their native tokens. However, a majority of these startups either turned out to be scams or purely incompetent […]
Research: ICOs See Lowest Funding Level in 16 Months
Funding for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) has seen its hardest slump in 16 months, Bloomberg reported September 10. Analysis from Autonomous Research shows that in August, startups raised $326 million, which is the smallest amount since May 2017. According to Autonomous Research, Ethereum (ETH) blockchain-based ICOs have been recognized as the spark for the ETH […]
EU: 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive published
On June 19th, 2018, the fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD 5) was published in the official journal of the European Union. The AMLD5 modifies the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD4) released only in 2015. The EU Commission proposed the revised AMLD in July 2016 as part of its Action Plan against terrorism announced in […]
Foreign landlords shun UK property market after tax hikes
Key Points The number of foreign investors into the U.K. property market has more than halved since the start of the decade. London has seen the most dramatic fall in investment. Tax hikes are thought to have driven landlords away. Roland Nagy | iStock / 360 | Getty Overseas landlords are moving out of the […]
Cryptocurrency market will hit $1 trillion valuation this year, CEO of top exchange says
Jesse Powell, founder and CEO of Kraken, said Tuesday that the cryptocurrency market would continue to see an “acceleration” of growth. Asked whether he thought the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies would hit the $1 trillion mark in 2018, Powell agreed. The entire cryptocurrency market will reach a total value of $1 trillion this year, […]
Equifax Breach Exposed More Consumer Data Than First Disclosed
The Equifax data breach exposed more of consumers’ personal information than the company first disclosed last year, according to documents given to lawmakers. The credit reporting company announced in September that the personal information of 145.5 million consumers had been compromised in a data breach. It originally said that the information accessed included names, Social […]
Cryptocurrency price manipulation is ‘unavoidable,’ head of crypto firm says
Price manipulation in the cryptocurrency space is “unavoidable” but will disappear once the market has matured, the head of the cryptocurrency firm NEM said Tuesday. “Price manipulation is not something new. You see it in mainstream markets as well. We are in a very nascent, growing phase of our industry and these things are unavoidable,” […]
FINMA revises “Public deposits with non-banks” circular
The new sandbox concept and the extended time frame for settlement accounts defined in the revised Banking Ordinance entered into force on 1 August 2017. In doing so, the Federal Council sought to reduce unnecessary regulatory obstacles for innovative business models. FINMA has now detailed these new rules in its amended circular “Public deposits with […]
Captive Insurance – UK government sets out new ILS framework
The UK Treasury has published new rules for insurance-linked securities (ILS) as the country aims to grab a share of the rapidly growing market. The rules, published on 20 July, allow for insurance and reinsurance firms to transfer risk to the capital markets, meaning that risk can be managed more effectively for businesses and consumers. […]