.svg)
SEPA 2023 Rulebook Consultation Opens
The European Payments Council (EPC) is consulting interested parties about the 2023 Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Credit Transfer and Direct Debit scheme rulebooks.
The public now has until December 11 to respond. The council wants the rulebook to keep abreast of new developments to do with payment service providers.
July Deadline Set For India-Singapore Payment Link
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Reserve Bank of India have announced plans to link Singapore’s PayNow with India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) real-time payment systems by July 2022.
The pay linkage, similar to those that Singapore has with Thailand and Malaysia, will enable users to make instant and cheap bank transfers between the two jurisdictions.
“By reducing the cost and inefficiencies of remittances between Singapore and India, the PayNow-UPI linkage will directly benefit individuals and businesses in Singapore and India that greatly rely on this mode of payment,” said Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at the MAS.
Since PayNow and UPI are integral components of their respective national digital infrastructures, the link between the two systems also paves the way for more comprehensive digital connectivity and interoperability between the two countries, he said.
The linkage will result in an increase in volumes of remittance traffic, multi-entity participation, the automation of capital control rules and enriched message formats that ought to accommodate future innovation by the participants.
Malaysia Issues New Banking Regulations
New regulations, announced on September 10, will allow non-bank-payment-service providers to become customers of the country's central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia.
This means that they will be able to hold current accounts with Bank Indonesia, while also accessing its clearing and foreign-currency-settlement systems.
This change in regulations could affect the cross-border QR payment link between Indonesia and Thailand.
Announced in August, the linkage is limited to banks. With this regulatory change, however, the powers that be could open it up to other QR-code providers.
The Great Crypto-Crackdown of Korea
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is expecting both foreign and national virtual-asset exchanges to obey the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information and register with it as regulated trading platforms by September 24.
This is a part of the government’s plan to supervise virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and their transactions in a more exacting manner.
As of mid-August, 33 VASPs have either obtained Information Security Management System (ISMS) certificates or are waiting for them.
Out of another batch of 25 VASPs, 19 have obtained ISMS certificates but four use real-name verified accounts, another stipulation of the new regime.
The Business Telegraph estimates that there are 60 crypto operators in the country and concludes that two-thirds of exchanges might lose their business, resulting in losses of more than 3trn won (US$2.6bn).
Although more time has passed and other VASPs might have made progress, the regulator has written that "an abrupt closure of business from September 25 may result in losses".
Upbit, one of the four largest crypto-exchanges in South Korea, has said that it has a security system that works in line with ISO 27001, ISO 27017 and ISO 27018.
