Welcome to Shearman & Sterling’s FinTech Blog, where we provide you with insight on key trends in the FinTech ecosystem. Here you can find relevant information with the latest on digital banking, FinTech regulation, digital assets, blockchain, AI, and more.
-
State Regulators Sue OCC Over FinTech Charter
11/01/2018The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to prevent it from granting charters for special purpose national banks (SPNBs) to non-depository FinTech companies.
The CSBS filed the lawsuit upon the OCC’s announcement on July 31, 2018 that it would begin accepting these applications. The CSBS previously sued the OCC over its ability to provide SPNB charters in April 2017. The federal district court in D.C., however, dismissed the first suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and ripeness, stating that the OCC had not decided whether to grant SPNB charters to FinTech firms at that time.
Read More -
Fidelity Investments Announces Launch of Digital Assets Business
10/16/2018Fidelity Investments yesterday announced the launch of Fidelity Digital Asset Services, LLC (Fidelity Digital Assets), a new company that will provide custody, trade execution and client services for digital assets to institutional investors, including hedge funds, family offices and market intermediaries. Fidelity Investments said that it plans to leverage its existing infrastructure to support the new company and further market adoption of digital assets. Fidelity Digital Assets reportedly will have its services “generally available” to the market at some point during early 2019.
Read More -
Varo Money on Track to Be First All-Mobile National Bank Following OCC Approval
09/11/2018On September 4, 2018, banking startup Varo Money (Varo) announced that its application to form a de novo national bank has been preliminarily and conditionally approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Varo applied for the national bank charter in 2017, and its approval marks the first time an all-mobile bank has been approved for a national bank charter by the agency.
Read More -
CME and Bloomberg Launch Virtual Currency Indices
5/30/2018Three new indices tracking various virtual currencies could be a signal that the asset class is one step closer to mainstream acceptance. The CME Group launched the Ether Reference Rate (ERR) and the Ether Real Time Index (ERTI) with Crypto Facilities Ltd., which track the performance of Ether against USD. Bloomberg also launched the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index with Galaxy Digital Capital Management LP, which tracks a basket of leading virtual currencies against USD.
Read More -
Federal Reserve Board Governor Speaks on Cryptocurrencies, Digital Currencies, and Distributed Ledger Technologies
5/18/2018On May 15, 2018, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard delivered a speech at the Decoding Digital Currency Conference, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, outlining some of her own thoughts on cryptocurrencies, digital currencies, and distributed ledger technologies.
Read More -
Transformation and Innovation: A Guide to Partnerships Between Financial Institutions and FinTechs
11/2017Jeremy Kutner, co-head of the firm’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group and Nicholas Withers, Associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group, collaborated on a FinTech report with The CityUK and Santander UK. The report sets out the key models and real-world examples of how greater collaboration between financial services and FinTechs can aid the development of innovative digital products and services. It also offers seven possible models by which incumbents and FinTechs can partner together, highlighting both the benefits of doing so as well as some of the main legal issues to consider.
Read More -
Donegan & Serrato Discuss the Emergence of U.K. Crowdfunding as a Mainstream Financial Service in Payments & FinTech Lawyer
08/2017Thomas Donegan, Jeewon Serrato and Anna Doyle authored an article in the August 2017 issue of Payments & FinTech Lawyer discussing the growth of crowdfunding following the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) granting of full authorization to two of the U.K.’s largest peer-to-peer lending platforms.
Read More