Major petroleum player Shell has become the first non-financial corporate to sign up to the FX Global Code: a voluntary set of principles unveiled in May last year that are designed to encourage best practices and sound ethical conduct within the FX market.
In taking this step, the firm has aligned itself with the Code’s Statement of Commitment – confirming that it identifies itself as a market participant under the terms of the Code, and will conduct its FX activities in the appropriate fashion.
As The Treasurer reported last year one type of market participant that is expected to follow the Code’s principles is “a corporate treasury department [or Centre] entering into external (non-group) transactions, either on its own account or on behalf of the parent companies, subsidiaries, branches, affiliates or joint ventures of the group it represents”.
For further details on the FX Global Code, take a look at these comprehensive resources from the ACT.
Fintech firm Independent Reserve has become the first digital currency exchange (DCE) to be regulated in Australia.
The stamp of approval came from finance watchdog the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).
On its website, AUSTRAC explained that, from 3 April onwards, every firm seeking to operate as a DCE must adopt a formal anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism programme – among other measures – to be approved for working in the market.
Independent Reserve CEO Adrian Przelozny said: “We have been lobbying for increased regulation since we opened for business in 2014. We passionately believe that the digital currency economy will – and should – become just another part of the mainstream economy.
“In order for that to happen, digital currency needs to be regulated just like any other asset class. This is an excellent new step on that journey.”
Ahead of the UK’s departure from the EU in March next year, the European Commission has pondered a radical strategy for filling the financial gap that the bloc’s second-largest contributor will leave behind.
According to the Financial Times, the Commission is looking into the logistics of leveraging some €56bn of European Central Bank (ECB) profits to make up for the budgetary shortfall that Brexit will impose upon the EU.
In a statement, the ECB noted that any such measure would require a change in the law to amend the Bank’s underlying statute.
“Together with their own profits,” it pointed out, “the national central banks distribute [the money], according to national legislation, to their shareholders, which are the finance ministries. The respective ministries and governments decide what they do with that money.”
Two significant government schemes designed to improve UK firms’ access to finance both took off on 28 March.
Unveiled by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Accelerating Green Finance report proposed a host of recommendations for how this fast-growing – but barriers-ridden – segment of the UK financial sector should be stimulated.
Among other thoughts, the report suggested ways in which stakeholders in the green finance community should:
In parallel, BEIS also launched the first of four Sector Deals that form part of the UK’s broader Industrial Strategy, which the government announced in late November (see this previous report from The Treasurer for details).
Targeted at the nation’s creative industries, the first Sector Deal aims to galvanise £150m of joint government and private-sector investment across a field that employs two million people.
Business secretary Greg Clark said: “The deal is evidence of our continued commitment to our world-leading creative sector, establishing a partnership that can build on the UK’s position and reputation as one the most creative places on Earth.”
Find the full Accelerating Green Finance report here.
For full details of the creative industries Sector Deal, click here.
Sweden’s rapid transformation into a cashless society is making transactions more convenient by the day – but not everyone is comfortable with the changes.
According to a report in The Guardian, a number of stakeholders are unhappy with the pace of change and the transition of consumer payments out of a purely social environment towards a realm of almost fully corporatised supervision.
Even leading figures in Sweden’s finance industry are taking issue with the developments – for example, Riksbank governor Stefan Ingves told the paper: “Most citizens would feel uncomfortable to surrender these social functions to private companies.
“It should be obvious that Sweden’s preparedness would be weakened if, in a serious crisis or war, we had not decided in advance how households and companies would pay for fuel, supplies and other necessities.”
Former national police commissioner Björn Eriksson – now head of pressure group Kontantupproret (Cash Rebellion) – echoed those sentiments, adding: “If Putin invades Gotland, it will be enough for him to turn off [Sweden’s] payments system.
“No other country would even think about taking these sorts of risks – they would demand some sort of analogue system.”