UK financial markets bill to authorise regulation of stablecoins, service providers
The bill will become a law once it passes through the House of Commons and House of Lords
On Wednesday, the bill meant to preserve UK’s supremacy in the Post-Brexit financial world - The Financial Services and Markets Bill - was presented with a set of regulations to govern stablecoins. However, before the bill can be considered a law, it still needs to pass two more readings in the House of Commons - the committee and report stages. And later pass through the same stages in the House of Lords.
The bill revoked certain EU laws and retained a few. Besides, it contains some amendments to insurance laws, provisions for the victims of financial fraud, and newly formed objectives of growth and competitiveness.
Regarding the section on digital assets, the bill has made amendments to the Banking Act of 2009 and the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act of 2013 to include ‘digital settlement assets (DSAs)”, aka stablecoins. It also authorised the Treasury to exercise its power in regulating DSAs, DSA service providers, payments made with DSAs, and DSA insolvency arrangements. However, the Treasury needs to form these regulations in consultation with the Bank of England, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), and other appropriate regulators.