Clifford Chance

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.

CLIFFORD CHANCE BRIEFINGS AND MATERIALS

• (26 Nov 2024) Clifford Chance briefing – Mansion House Speech 2024: UK financial services policy initiatives
• (14 Nov 2024) Clifford Chance webinar recording – AI Series: Data and cyber considerations for AI

SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight: Webinar recording - Data and cyber considerations for AI

Organisations developing, deploying or using AI systems and tools must navigate privacy, data protection and cybersecurity requirements alongside AI-specific regulations. These parallel, and at times overlapping, frameworks and rules raise new challenges but also enable fresh opportunities for organisations. In this webinar on 14 November 2024 hosted as part of our Global Financial Markets Perspectives: AI Series, our expert global panel shared practical and market insights at the intersection of these developments, including in the context of governance and compliance programmes, risk management and contractual negotiations.

GLOBAL LEGAL AND REGULATORY UPDATES, INDUSTRY GUIDANCE AND PUBLICATIONS

International

• (20 Nov 2024) A coalition of international organisations comprising the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA), the World Bank, and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) have launched high-level guidelines for public authorities seeking to harness open finance to accelerate digital financial services and innovation and increase the use of a broader range of financial products. | Webpage | Press release

Africa

Morocco:

• (26 Nov 2024) Speech by Moroccan Central Bank Governor Abdellatif Jouahri, in which he indicated that the Bank has prepared a draft law regulating cryptoassets, which is currently in the adoption process.

Americas

US:

• (22 Nov 2024) Speech by Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle Bowman on artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial system.
• (21 Nov 2024) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s Global Markets Advisory Committee has advanced a recommendation to expand the use of non-cash collateral through the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT). The recommendation provides a legal and regulatory framework for how market participants can apply their existing policies, procedures, practices, and processes to support use of DLT for non-cash collateral in a manner consistent with margin requirements. | Press release
• (21 Nov 2024) Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) Economic Policy Review article on the financial stability implications of digital assets. | Webpage

APAC

Australia:

• (21 Nov 2024) Australian Treasury consultation seeking stakeholder views on options for the Government’s approach to implementing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-developed rules for the cryptoasset reporting framework (CARF) and associated amendments to the common reporting standard (CRS). Deadline for comments: 24 January 2025.

Europe

EU:

• (26 Nov 2024) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2545 laying down implementing technical standards (ITS) under the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA) with regard to standard forms, templates and procedures for the cooperation and exchange of information between competent authorities, which has been published in the Official Journal. Entry into force: 16 December 2024.

Luxembourg:

• (20 Nov 2024) Bill No. 8460 (in French) amending the Luxembourg law of 10 November 2009 on payment services in order to implement Regulation (EU) 2024/886 on instant credit transfers in euro (Instant Payments Regulation), which has been lodged with the Luxembourg Parliament. The publication of the bill constitutes the start of the legislative procedure.

UK:

• (26 Nov 2024) Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Crypto Roadmap setting out a timeline for its planned discussion and consultation papers covering various aspects of the future regime for regulating cryptoassets, such as trading platforms, intermediation, lending, staking, stablecoins, custody, prudential requirements, conduct and firm standards, admissions and disclosures, and market abuse, as well as its intention to publish all final rules in 2026. The FCA has also published a new webpage on its expectations in relation to current rules on cryptoasset financial promotions and fiat-to-crypto on/off ramp services; (ii) a blog post summarising roundtable discussions on the future crypto regime covering admissions and disclosures, market abuse regulation, and trading platforms and intermediaries; and (iii) an analysis of cryptoassets consumer research conducted in 2024 by YouGov on behalf of the FCA. | Press release
• (25 Nov 2024) UK Finance blog post on limiting the impacts of future financial crime and the fraudulent exploitation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
• (22 Nov 2024) UK Finance blog post on ethical and other important considerations regarding GenAI solutions for banking.
• (21 Nov 2024) Speech by Tulip Siddiq, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, in which she discussed the UK Government's approach to tokenisation and regulation.
• (21 Nov 2024) Bank of England (BoE) and FCA report setting out the results of their third survey of AI and machine learning.
• (21 Nov 2024) Speech by BoE Executive Director for Financial Market Infrastructures Sasha Mills, in which she discussed innovation in wholesale financial markets and highlighted how the potential impact of tokenisation, programmable platforms, and the adoption of other new technologies could make post-trade processes faster, cheaper and more efficient.
• (20 Nov 2024) Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) webpage setting out its approach to the use of AI and other similar technology.

EVENTS

• Global Financial Markets Perspectives Series: Outsourcing – new technologies, new regulations and new vulnerabilities (online, 10 December 2024): New technologies, major shifts in the global regulatory landscape, and the need for digital resilience require global enterprises to fundamentally rethink their outsourcing strategies and outsourcing relationships. In this session, we will look at the key trends and developments that are shaping the future of outsourcing and the strategies that organisations can adopt to meet these new challenges. | To register, please see the event series registration form