The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the region’s banking regulator, encouraged lenders in April to cater to the business requirements of licensed crypto exchanges. This announcement was a response to a Financial Times report suggesting that banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, were facing pressure from HKMA to accept crypto exchanges as clients.
Hong Kong, aiming to become a leading global hub for cryptocurrency, has taken numerous measures, such as attracting mainland China crypto firms and proposing the testing of a digital dollar in its mortgage market. The report noted that the UK-based lenders HSBC and Standard Chartered, along with the Bank of China, were probed by the HKMA last month regarding their hesitance to accept crypto exchanges as clients.
In an April 27 letter to the lenders, the HKMA highlighted that due diligence on prospective customers should not pose an “undue burden”, particularly for companies establishing offices in Hong Kong. Both Standard Chartered and HSBC confirmed their continuous dialogue with regulators on a variety of topics and ongoing involvement in the evolving crypto policies and developments in Hong Kong.
This push by Hong Kong for banks to incorporate crypto clients into their portfolios comes at a time when other nations like the U.S. are intensifying their scrutiny on crypto exchanges. The U.S. affiliate of Binance, for instance, had to cease dollar deposits last week after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requested a court to freeze its assets.
Other Stories:
Binance US fires employees over SEC investigation
Sturdy Finance reinstates stable coin market after exploit
‘Commodities, not securities’: Coinbase CEO sends message to SEC amid lawsuit
