Christopher L. Allen

Arnold & Porter Discusses Regulators’ Clamp-Down on ICOs, Virtual Currencies, and Blockchain Firms

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If there was ever a regulatory grace period for virtual currencies and blockchain technology, it is officially over.  Five federal regulators—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the US Treasury Department (FinCEN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)— all recently issued statements or took actions in which they clarified their positions on the scope of their jurisdiction over multiple aspects of virtual currency and certain types of blockchain enterprises.  State, foreign and multilateral regulators have also taken actions to rein in virtual … Read more

Arnold & Porter explains New York Takes Lead on Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement by Proposing Criminal Liability for Compliance Officers

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On December 1, 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services (the DFS) released a proposed rule that would require certain New York-regulated financial institutions (Regulated Institutions) to comply with enhanced anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements and subject chief compliance officers to potential criminal liability for noncompliance (the Proposal).

The proposed regulations aim to strengthen New York financial institutions’ fight against terrorist financing and money laundering at a time when terrorism concerns are at their highest in years. The Proposal, which was developed by the DFS over several months, also comes amid persistent calls from the general public to … Read more

Arnold & Porter explains US Policy Developments in FinTech and Payments Systems: Federal Reserve Establishes Tasks Forces of Faster Payments and Secure Payments

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FinTech businesses focused on payments systems and foreign exchange have witnessed an explosion of demand in recent years. As these payment systems services continue to gain mainstream acceptance, financial regulators in the US are increasingly interested in monitoring and, as appropriate, prescribing policies or regulations concerning them, slowly casting a prudential regulatory framework over the FinTech payments systems industry.[1] The policy and regulatory landscape in this area is undergoing fundamental change.

Background

Regulation of the US payment system is highly fragmented and often ad hoc. In the foreign exchange sector, for instance, the appropriate regulator and the nature of the … Read more