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Singapore and South Africa warn against Binance
Binance, the beleaguered crypto-firm, is under attack from both the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa.
Press reports aplenty quote a statement from the MAS that runs: "MAS has reviewed Binance.com’s operations and is of the view that Binance, the operator of Binance.com, may be in breach of the Payment Services Act. Binance is required to cease providing payment services ... to Singapore residents and cease soliciting such business from Singapore residents."
Binance, for its part, has written: "As Binance constantly evaluates its product and service offerings to remain compliant with local regulations, we will cease the following products and offerings in Singapore on Friday ... SGD trading pairs; SGD payment options; removal of the app from Singapore iOs and Google Play stores."
In South Africa, likewise, the FSCA has warned the public to be cautious and vigilant when dealing with Binance Group as it is not authorised to give any financial advice or render any intermediary services in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 2002 (FAIS Act) in the country.
The regulator found that the company, which is situated in the Seychelles, has a telegram group that members of the South African public can join to gain access to its cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Regulators in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and Lithuania have already accused Binance of operating without permission in their jurisdictions.
Meanwhile, crypto-assets are to be brought into South Africa's regulatory purview. The Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group has, through the Crypto Assets Regulatory Working Group, published a position paper on crypto-assets. This states that crypto-assets will become regulated "in a phased and structured manner".
Beware of Unregulated CIS, Says Hong Kong Regulator
Compliance officers at payments firms ought to be on the lookout for unregulated customers and recipients of payments. The latest list of unauthorised investment schemes issued by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong is a good place to start.
The SFC has embarked on a new initiative to warn the public about arrangements which it suspects of being collective investment schemes (CIS). No firm may offer a CIS to the public in Hong Kong without the SFC’s permission. The Securities and Futures Ordinance is the statute under which it licenses CIS.
The new Suspected Unauthorised CIS Alert List is here. These arrangements may involve overseas real estate or non-conventional assets and investments such as digital tokens and initial coin offerings (ICOs).
A searchable list of investment products authorised by the SFC for public offering, including all SFC-authorised CIS, is available here.
APRA Removes Confidentiality For Records
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has announced its decision to make key entity-level authorised deposit-taking institutions’ (ADIs) financial metrics non-confidential in a new centralised publication that will come out next year and every year subsequently.
APRA consulted the financial services industry in 2019 about the confidentiality of data to be used in the ADI quarterly publications and additional historical data. It paused this in response to the coronavirus pandemic but subsequently consulted the industry about the confidentiality of key ADI metrics last year.
APRA explains all in this letter.
