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Global Fintech Update

24 July 2024

Fintech Banking & Finance 24 July 2024

Welcome to this week's global fintech round-up, summarising fintech regulatory developments that have happened around the world along with our Clifford Chance fintech publications and upcoming events.

Details of these and previous developments can also be found on our Fintech Topic Guide on the Clifford Chance Financial Markets Toolkit.

SPOTLIGHT

What does MiCA mean for issuing and offering stablecoins and other cryptoassets in the EU?

The new EU Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA) creates an EU regulatory framework for the issuance of, intermediating and dealing in, cryptoassets. Parts of MiCA impacting the issuance, offering and admission to trading of stablecoins entered into force at the end of June 2024, while equivalent provisions for other cryptoassets, new licensing and conduct of business requirements for cryptoasset service providers, and a market abuse regime with respect to cryptoassets will apply from the end of the year.

In our new briefing, we look in detail at what issuers of stablecoins and other cryptoassets, and wider market participants, need to know about the new requirements for issuing, offering and seeking admission to trading. We cover when authorisation will be required, stablecoin reserve requirements and the key form and content requirements for white papers and who may be liable for them.

CLIFFORD CHANCE BRIEFINGS AND MATERIALS

GLOBAL LEGAL AND REGULATORY UPDATES, INDUSTRY GUIDANCE AND PUBLICATIONS

International

  • (23 July 2024) Financial Stability Board (FSB) report on cross-border regulatory and supervisory issues of global stablecoin arrangements in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) | Webpage
  • (16 July 2024) Speech by Klaas Knot, Chair of the FSB, on how artificial intelligence may shape the economy and the financial system | Webpage

Americas

US:

  • (22 July 2024) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved nine applications for spot Ethereum exchange traded funds (ETFs). Clifford Chance acted as counsel to BlackRock (iShares Ethereum ETF) and VanEck (VanEck Ethereum ETF), and these ETFs have now started trading.

APAC

Hong Kong:

  • (23 July 2024) Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) circular notifying authorised institutions of its plan to align the proposed regulatory framework introduced in its consultation paper CP 24.01 'Cryptoasset Exposures' with the latest updates from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
  • (17 July 2024) The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have jointly published the conclusions to their December 2023 consultation on legislative proposals to implement a regulatory regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong. As the next step, the FSTB and the HKMA are preparing a bill to implement the regulatory proposal and plan to introduce the bill into the Legislative Council later this year. | Press release

Europe

EU:

  • (17 July 2024) The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) have announced their intention to establish the EU systemic cyber incident coordination framework (EU-SCICF), in the context of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), over the coming months. The aim of the EU-SCICF is to facilitate an effective financial sector response to a cyber incident that poses a risk to financial stability, by strengthening the coordination among financial authorities and other relevant bodies in the EU as well as with key actors at international level. | Press release

Germany:

  • (8 July 2024) German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) note (in German) regarding the implementation of the DORA, which will apply to most supervised banks and insurers from 17 January 2025. The note is intended to assist these entities in complying with the requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) risk management and ICT third-party risk management as outlined in DORA. | Webpage (in German)

Italy:              

  • (19 July 2024) Clifford Chance has advised Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in the issuance of its first Digital Bond on Blockchain. The issue, which took place through distributed ledger technology, has a nominal value of €25 million and a duration of four months and is the first one carried out in Italy pursuant to the Fintech decree-law, which regulates the issuance and circulation of certain financial instruments in digital form. | Press release

 

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