Cryptoassets and Smart Contracts – UK Offers Legal Clarity
On November 18, 2019, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce, which is part of The English Law Society’s LawTech Delivery Panel, published its Legal Statement on the status of cryptoassets and smart contracts (the Legal Statement).
New EU Strong Customer Authentication Standards: Implications for Payment Service Providers
Under the revised Payment Services Directive (2015/2366) (PSD2), the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Commission were required to develop and adopt regulatory technical standards on strong customer authentication and common and secure open standards of communication. These regulatory technical standards were passed into EU law as Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389 (the RTS), which entered into effect on September 14, 2019.
The RTS has direct effect on payment service providers (PSPs), including card issuers and acquirers, in all EU member states. However, certain EU member states, including the UK, have implemented transitional measures for a phased implementation of the rules in the context of card-based payments for e-commerce transactions.
This post discusses the requirements under the RTS for card issuers and acquirers to authenticate payment service users (PSUs), which is referred to as “strong customer authentication” (SCA).
“Cryptoassets are here to stay”: EU Authorities to Provide Guidance on Cryptocurrencies and ICOs
On September 4, the Innovation Group of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs met to discuss a proposal presented by the rapporteur Ashley Fox,1 member of the European Parliament, to include a framework for initial coin offerings (ICOs) within the proposed European Union (EU) financial services regulatory regime for crowdfunding2 (see European Commission (Commission) proposal COM(2018) 113 final).3
As part of the public discussion, the Commission, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) were present to provide their thoughts. (more…)
FinTech and Regulatory Sandboxes in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore
As the FinTech industry continues to expand, regulators around the globe are starting to react. The past 18 months have seen the emergence of a new trend in financial services regulation, the “sandbox.”
Since the launch of the UK’s regulatory sandbox in May 2016, regulators across the globe have adopted similar frameworks. There are now regulatory sandboxes in Abu Dhabi, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand, to name a few, and the European Union recently set out proposals for a possible EU-wide regulatory sandbox. (more…)