Issue #382 - Is Regulation Vital For Inclusion? September 22nd, 2022

Finally, The Merge occurred. Before the long-awaited Ethereum upgrade, the second crypto by market cap almost doubled investors’ returns. But right after The Merge, the coin dropped for both the measures taken by the Fed to reduce inflation and the observations of the SEC chairman Gary Gensler, who said that PoS cryptos could be classed as securities.

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Ten locations, three challenges, one fantastic opportunity! The ‘Space for the Financial World’ hackathon is here! This time we are aiming to advance the digitalisation and greening of the European financial sector. FinTech enthusiasts and professionals alike join us November 4-6 and put your problem-solving skills to the test. Get involved today: https://cassini.eu/hackathons

The European Union will finalize its EU Artificial Intelligence Act – EU AI Act – to regulate artificial intelligence. The act could have several implications on how AI is developed, and also influence international cooperation related to AI.

Takis Georgakopoulos, global head of payments of JPMorgan Chase, said that the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method declined in the past six months. Despite this, JPMorgan Chase doesn’t stop betting on this market, especially for the advantages of its underlying technology.

This week the Fed should raise interest rates by 0.75%. Crypto traders and investors expect a rally for those currencies that are currently correlated to the main indexes and that could represent a hedge against inflation.

Even if a possible European Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is still being discussed, five nations are already pointing out that the currency should have specific characteristics. The Treasury Authority of Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Spain created a document where these nations state that the currency should be meant to protect people’s information, that it should be green and that holdings should be capped.

Walmart has been working on a fintech solution for a while, even involving top investors Ribbit Capital and executives like Omer Ismail and David Stark. Walmart’s fintech solution, ONE, should be integrated with Walmart’s retail capabilities and create a consumer-banking offering.

EMTECH, the popular company focused on providing banking infrastructures, partners with SEC Ghana to deploy an innovative regulatory sandbox. Thanks to this API-first solution, regulators and central banks will be able to cooperate more efficiently.

Nairobi could become the second county in Kenya to issue a green bond. The Government of the county announced green bonds for $1.2 billion worth, aimed at creating environmentally friendly solutions to create sustainable water infrastructure, sustainable transport and renewable energy. The green bond should be launched on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE).

India and Singapore, two nations with thriving fintech markets, signed an agreement for cooperation. The agreement was signed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Indian International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), and it’s aimed at creating a regulatory framework to guarantee better cooperation between the fintech companies of the two countries.

Inclusion doesn’t have to involve only customers, but also companies. In Southeast Asia, even if SMEs represent 99% of the total number of companies according to the Yusof Ishak Institute, many of them are unmonitored or unregulated. RegTech can allow financial inclusion in the region by also including all those SMEs that are excluded from official counts and can’t access financial products.