The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Wednesday it would harmonise how banks offer crypto assets to ensure they have enough capital and expertise in a sector some European Union lawmakers have described as the Wild West.
Several crypto companies like Binance and Crypto.com have
been authorised in EU countries such as Italy, France, Spain, Greece or Germany
after complying with national safeguards to combat money laundering and
terrorist financing.
This comes ahead of pan-EU licensing rules from 2023 at the
earliest.
The ECB said banks were also considering whether to get
involved in the crypto sector, but that national rules diverged quite
extensively.
"In Germany, certain crypto activities are subject to a
banking licence requirement and to date, several banks have requested to be
authorised to conduct these licensed activities," the ECB said in a
statement.
"It is in this context that the ECB is taking steps to
harmonise the assessment of licensing requests."
The ECB, which directly regulates top euro zone lenders such
as Deutsche Bank, UniCredit and BNP Paribas, said it would examine if crypto
activities were in line with a bank's risk "profile", which
determines how much capital to hold.
The ECB will also check if a bank can identify and assess
risks from cryptoassets and if board members and IT staff have "robust
experience" in the sector.
"Importantly, working closely with national
supervisors, the ECB will strive towards greater consistency in prudential
assessments across national regimes," the ECB added.
Global regulators at the Basel Committee in Switzerland are
assessing whether there should be specific capital buffers for holdings of
crypto assets at banks.
The EU is also reviewing its bank capital requirements law.
Ville Niinisto, a Green Party member of the European
Parliament, has proposed an amendment that bank holdings of Bitcoin and other
cryptocurrencies not backed by assets should not exceed 1 percent of a bank's
core tier 1 measure of capital.
Such a cap would need the backing of the full parliament and
EU states to become law, a lengthy process.
Niinisto has also proposed regulators should assess if
bespoke capital requirements are needed for blockchain, which underpins
cryptoassets. © Reuters
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