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

• (15 Sep 2023) Clifford Chance briefing – Bills of exchange – The new law

SPOTLIGHT

Responsible AI in Practice - a Report

Public awareness of AI is increasing and, with it, questions on how AI will be used and the impact it will have on our lives. To help identify the pressures faced by policymakers and demands from stakeholders, our latest report, developed in partnership with Milltown Partners, analyses the results of focus groups of policy-informed individuals conducted in the US, the UK and Germany. Groups were asked about issues such as bias, consent, copyright, transparency, content moderation and AI governance.  While participants were optimistic about the potential of AI, it is clear that there is still work to do to demonstrate that it will be used responsibly and safely.

Our report covers our findings across eight key areas, including AI policy and regulation, responsible AI governance and accountability, AI-generated content and related intellectual property and plagiarism challenges and illegal or harmful content and moderation.

GLOBAL LEGAL AND REGULATORY UPDATES, INDUSTRY GUIDANCE AND PUBLICATIONS

GLOBAL LEGAL AND REGULATORY UPDATES, INDUSTRY GUIDANCE AND PUBLICATIONS

International

•  (15 Sep 2023) International Monetary Fund (IMF) Fintech Note on the implications of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for monetary policy transmission. In general, the effects of CBDCs on monetary policy transmission are expected to be relatively small in normal times, but these effects can be more significant in an environment with low interest rates or financial market stress.
• (15 Sep 2023) IMF working paper discussing how taxation can help in addressing the environmental damage from crypto mining. To address global warming, the authors estimate the corrective excise on the electricity used by crypto miners to be USD 0.045 per kWh, on average. Considering air pollution costs as well would raise the tax to USD 0.087 per kWh.

Americas

US:  

• (18 Sep 2023) New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris has issued an update on an ongoing initiative to strengthen DFS oversight of virtual currencies, publishing proposed guidance which adopts enhanced criteria for coin-listing and delisting procedures, as well as updated guidance on the framework for designating coins or tokens to the DFS greenlist. Deadline for comments: 20 October 2023 | Press release
• (14 Sep 2023) Letter from Senator Sherrod Brown, Chair of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, to the United States Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairs of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in which he highlights his concerns regarding the lack of customer-facing disclosure in crypto markets and calls on the three agencies to assess their authorities and evaluate how to build on existing disclosure guardrails to effectively target the deficiencies in digital asset tokens and digital asset platforms.
• (14 Sep 2023) The House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion has held a hearing entitled ‘Digital Dollar Dilemma: The Implications of a Central Bank Digital Currency and Private Sector Alternatives’ | Committee Memorandum | Livestream | Webpage

APAC

Hong Kong:

• (15 Sep 2023) Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) press release reminding members of the public to beware of firms engaged in crypto business purporting to be ‘banks’ or describing their products as ‘deposits’, and warning these firms that describing themselves and their products in this way may be a contravention of the Banking Ordinance.
• (15 Sep 2023) Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) circular announcing its plan to commence a cybersecurity review of selected licensed corporations, with a focus on assessing their cybersecurity management and compliance as well as the resilience of their information systems against cybersecurity threats.

Kazakhstan:

• (15 Sep 2023) National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) press release (in Russian) announcing the creation of the National Payment Corporation through the reorganisation of the Kazakhstan Centre for Interbank Settlements. The functions and tasks of the new body will include the further development of the digital financial infrastructure, including through the implementation of the Digital Tenge and Open Banking projects.   

Europe

EU:  

• (18 Sep 2023) EU Commission guidelines on assessing whether cybersecurity risk-management provisions under sector-specific EU legal acts are equivalent to provisions under the Cybersecurity Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (NIS2), which have been published in the Official Journal. The guidelines seek to clarify the application of Article 4(1) and (2) of NIS2, which disapply relevant provisions of NIS2 to essential or important entities subject to equivalent requirements under sector-specific EU legal acts (including DORA in relation to financial entities).
• (8 Sep 2023) The feedback period on the EU Commission’s proposal for a regulation on the establishment of the digital euro has now ended and the responses have been published.

Germany:

• (18 Sep 2023) German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) blog post (in German) on the need for clear and appropriate rules for crypto markets in order to create trust in digital financial offerings.

Malta:           

• (18 Sep 2023) Malta Financial Services Authority consultation on changes to Chapter 3 of the Virtual Financial Assets Rulebook. The proposed changes are intended to align the Maltese framework for virtual financial assets with the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA). Deadline for comments: 29 September 2023. | Webpage

UK:

• (18 Sep 2023) Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) report following its initial review of foundation models (FMs) in which it has proposed principles which aim to ensure consumer protection and healthy competition are at the heart of responsible development and use of FMs. | Webpage | Press release

EVENTS

Global Financial Markets Perspectives Series: Ethics Series Ι AI Series: Applied ethics and generative AI – challenges and prospects for businesses (in person – Canary Wharf, London, 26 September 2023): The latest session in our Ethics Series, organised in conjunction with the Canary Wharf G30 Conduct and Culture Group and Canary Wharf Multifaith Chaplaincy, will explore the ethical issues for businesses arising from the use of generative AI. The discussion will focus on how to get the best out of the new technology given the various ethical challenges it presents around accuracy, consistency, plagiarism, breach of copyright, data privacy and confidentiality, deep fakes, cyber-attacks, hallucinations and inherent bias. We will also look to the impact on future generations, and the ethical implications of the changes that AI may bring on society. | To register, please see the event series registration form

Global Financial Markets Perspectives Series: AI Series: Responsible AI – navigating evolving law, policy and public perception (hybrid, 3 October 2023): Organisations developing strategies for responsible AI development and use are navigating evolving law, policy and public perception in relation to key issues such as fairness, transparency, explainability, compliance with law, effective governance and risk mitigation. We will examine differing approaches to AI regulation and policy globally, explore changing public perceptions of AI, and discuss what this means in practice for organisations creating forward-looking, multijurisdictional AI strategies. | To register, please see the event series registration form

Global Financial Markets Perspectives Series: The payments revolution – how will CBDCs, stablecoins and tokenised deposits transform settlement globally (online, 10 October 2023): The payments landscape is rapidly evolving as a growing number of jurisdictions consider the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the development of private-sector alternatives and significant regulatory changes. We will explore the impact of these changes across the globe including the legal challenges that must be addressed. We will also discuss the opportunities that private alternatives to CBDCs such as stablecoins and tokenised cash deposits offer for facilitating faster settlement, for digital securities and more widely, and how global legal frameworks are adapting accordingly.| To register, please see the event series registration form