In a sign of openness towards new horizons, Ripple enters the asset custody service for financial institutions.

The crypto platform wants to move towards a broader and more comprehensive offer to safely store its clients’ digital assets.

Without a doubt, it is a way to maintain its participation in the cryptocurrency sector in a solid way, “offering innovative solutions that meet the needs of both companies and consumers.”

It is expected that this strategic move will provide a strong boost to the adoption of XRP, as well as “other cryptocurrencies, by traditional financial institutions.”

Regarding Ripple’s proposal, it is expected to provide a variety of tools and solutions to operate in the cryptocurrency space. Flexibility is also important, as by offering customized custody services, “as shared or fully managed solutions, Ripple could adapt to the diverse needs and risk profiles of financial institutions.”

According to the platform, asset custody has grown rapidly. Ripple Custody, its division in this area, has gained clients by more than 250 % in the last year and operates in seven countries, in key financial institutions such as HSBC and DBS Bank.

M.Pino

Source: cointelegraph

(Reference image source: Austin Distel in Unsplash)

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La entrada Ripple wants to expand its action to the custody of funds apareció primero en Bitfinance.

Mexico’s financial growth for the next 12 to 18 months could be between 4 and 5 % according to statements by Alfredo Calvo, Leader of the Financial Institutions sector for Latin America at Standard & Poor’s, Global Ratings.

According to the interviewee, this possible financial growth is favored by the increase in bank loan portfolios, despite high interest rates.

These loans continue to grow and “have the space to continue doing so in the next 12 to 18 months,” in Calvo’s opinion.

Experts in the Mexican financial sector maintain the expectation that in the remainder of 2024 and 2025 the economy will be “attractive for households and also for companies, because low interest rates could generate more access to financing.”

In this sense, Global Ratings assured: “we expect a terminal rate around 7 % and, in this sense, we expect interest rates to remain above the levels to which we were accustomed before the pandemic.”

On the other hand, they indicated that it is possible that the Bank of Mexico will pause the cycle before resuming cuts in the coming months, if the United States Federal Reserve does not lower interest rates again.

M.Pino

Source: cointelegraph

(Reference image source: Jorge Aguilar in Unsplash)

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La entrada Mexican financial sector could grow up to 5 % in 2024 apareció primero en Bitfinance.

U.S. Treasury Department officials from two key offices involved in the fight against fentanyl and its financing traveled to Mexico last week. The objective was to meet with counterparts from the Mexican government and representatives from the US financial sector. U.S. and Mexico to deepen collaboration against illicit finance.

This visit came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Mexico in December 2023. During her visit, Yellen expressed the Treasury Department’s commitment to “use all the tools at its disposal to dismantle the ability of drug traffickers to sell this poison in our country.”

On 8 February, officials from the Financial Crimes Network (FinCEN) of the Department of the Treasury chaired a panel discussion on illicit finance jointly with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Government of Mexico and the Banking, Securities and Savings Unit (UBVA), Mexico’s banking and securities regulatory authority.

During this public-private dialogue, issues related to cross-border financial crimes, such as laundering of proceeds derived from trafficking in fentanyl precursors, trafficking in persons, fraud and corruption perpetrated by transnational criminal organisations, were addressed.

The panel also focused on the role of money-laundering organizations in concealing the proceeds of such illicit activities. Participants included financial institutions, financial intelligence units, regulators, and law enforcement agencies from both the United States and Mexico.

On February 9, the Office for Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Financial Crimes of the Department of the Treasury, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, convened the nineteenth Bilateral Working Group on Public and Private Banking.

The objective was to bring together financial institutions, policymakers, regulators and supervisors from both countries to advance bilateral strategic priorities in the fight against illicit financing.

K. Tovar

Source: Bancaynegocios

(Reference image: Kenny Eliason at Unsplash)

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La entrada US and Mexico will seek to prevent financial crimes apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced that it will now use a series of environmental statistical indicators to monitor climate risks in the financial sector and to promote a sustainable banking system.

These new indicators will be experimental or analytical. The experimental ones will meet many but not all of the ECB’s qualitative statistical criteria, the entity itself admits.

These parameters will seek to categorize debt instruments based on whether they are “green”, “social”, “sustainable” or “related to sustainability”.

On the other hand, the analytical indicators will be of lower quality and will have certain limitations. These will analyze the carbon emissions attributable to financial institutions, on the one hand, and, on the other, they will also study the physical risks posed by climate change, such as floods, droughts or fires.

The ECB has stated that these indicators are still being refined and should be used with some caution, but has indicated that it will work to improve the methodology and data used.

“We need to better understand how climate change will affect the financial sector, and vice versa. For this, obtaining reliable information is crucial,” explained ECB Executive Committee member Isabel Schnabel.

Source: dpa

(Reference image source: Chris Leboutillier, Unsplash)

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La entrada The ECB will analyze the risks of climate change for the financial sector apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The financial institution Goldman Sachs, together with the financial services firm Galaxy Digital, executed its first Bitcoin options transaction on the stock market. The information was provided by CoinDesK: “The company executed its first OTC cryptocurrency transaction from a bank in the US, produced in collaboration with the trading unit of the crypto investment management firm owned by Michael Novogratz.”

In the crypto world, an OTC trade refers to the process of trading securities through an independent network of brokers. The OTC tool may comprise investment instruments that may or may not be listed on a stock exchange and are held privately. Different investors use them as a means of hedging or to amplify their returns.

Damien Vanderwilt, Co-President and Head of Global Markets at Galaxy Digital, said: “We are pleased to strengthen our relationship with Goldman Sachs and hope that this transaction will open the door for other banks to consider the OTC market as an avenue for cryptocurrency trading.”

From the perspective of Galaxy Digital, OTC operations manifest the adoption and maturation of cryptocurrencies in the financial sector, specifically in the case of Goldman Sachs, it means an expansion of its strategy around this asset class.

Entering the crypto market

The tool known as fututo has been increasing in the world of cryptocurrencies because it allows greater performance and predictability in volatile markets such as the crypto ecosystem.

As will be recalled, Goldman Sachs in the middle of last year also established an alliance with Galaxy Digital to obtain quotes on BTC futures purchase orders through the CME exchange.

Since then, the financial group has been providing liquidity for block transactions in CME Group. By 2021, the bank will also reopen its cryptocurrency trading desk, which had closed in 2018, due to growing demand from multiple institutional clients.

M. Rodríguez

Source: iproup.com

La entrada Goldman Sachs executed a transaction on the stock exchange with Bitcoin apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The investment bank Goldman Sachs announced the suspension of its activities in Russia, thus becoming the first large Wall Street bank to announce a measure that has already been previously adopted by numerous multinational companies.

The financial institution spread the news through an official statement stating: “Goldman Sachs is closing its business in Russia in compliance with regulatory and licensing requirements.”

Likewise, they maintain that they will continue to support their clients around the world in the “management or closing of pre-existing obligations in the market and guarantee the well-being of our people.”

After the decision, Goldman Sachs shares fell 2.43 % on Wall Street by mid-morning, on a bad day for the financial sector.

Russia with little impact on the business

Goldman Sachs Groups Inc has been present in Russia in recent years, but according to information provided by the entity “the country does not represent a significant part of its global banking business“, some 650 million dollars in credit risk by 2021.

Goldman’s exit is more symbolic as it is the first financial institution to suspend its operations as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which could induce a cascade of similar movements to other entities, as has happened with companies in other sectors.

Other US banks also have little presence in Russia. One of them is Citigroup, which has 3,000 employees at its Russian offices and had $9.8 billion in loans, assets and venture capital by the end of 2021.

M. Rodríguez

Source: iproup.com

La entrada Goldman Sachs announces the suspension of operations in Russia apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The executive Vice Presidency of Venezuela, headed by Delcy Rodríguez, is holding workshops with the public and private banking sector in order to strengthen the country’s financial and economic system, within the framework of the Economic Recovery, Growth and Prosperity plan. of Venezuela announced by the President of the Republic.

The recovery plan is made up of different economic axes such as: “the promotion of the digital economy, the existence of currencies, promoting and supporting ventures, commercial activities, updating benefits, services and products through digital banking and opening the compass of attention” in order to provide greater access to financial services to all citizens.

The institutions and organizations involved in the dialogue workshops are the “superintendence of the banking sector, the Central Bank of Venezuela, the Vice Minister of Digital Economy, Banking, Insurance and Securities, and the representatives of the Venezuelan banking union.”

The six sectors vice-presidents that make up the national Executive power also held a meeting with the purpose of contrasting and monitoring the public policies that have been applied in the different sectors of the country’s economy and planning the actions that will be carried out during the 2022.

M. Rodríguez

Source: eluniversal.com

La entrada Venezuela to strengthen the financial system apareció primero en Bitfinance.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB) warned about the risks to which the stability of the financial system is subjected due to cyber attacks. Although, so far, there has been no incident that affects the financial system could occur in the future, as it happened in Europe in hospitals, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis and the attack on the Colonial Pipeline.

These statements were provided by the President of the European Central Bank within the framework of the opening of the fifth annual conference of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), an institution which she also directs.

According to Lagarde, an attack of this magnitude could be a matter of time. “Businesses have become more exposed to cyber attacks due to digitization and the pandemic has accelerated this trend.”

Lagarde highlights that the financial sector institutions were forced to adapt their entire technological infrastructure to the sudden demand for teleworking and the virtual relationship with their clients, which in her opinion “increased efficiency, but also vulnerability,” allowing cyber problems to spread precipitously.

Cyberattacks on the rise

Cyber ​​attacks and difficulties have become more common and sophisticated in recent years, so in 2019 and 2020 “the number of cyber incidents reported to the ECB increased by 54 % and many of them were malicious”. Lagarde believes that the “cyber attack on SolarWinds, which affected Microsoft email servers around the world, highlights the sophistication of the attacks.”

In the European Union there are approximately 22,000 financial institutions and all have increased their links with IT service providers, which is why a cyber attack could grow rapidly and turn from an operational disturbance to a problem for the financial system.

 M. Rodríguez

Source: cincodias.elpais.com

La entrada Lagarde warns of financial risks due to cyber attacks apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The European Commission published the new strategy on sustainable finance, which includes a series of initiatives to face climate change and some environmental challenges, increasing investment and inclusion of small and medium-sized companies in the transition to a sustainable economy.

According to what was expressed by the Vice-President of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, the financial strategy is “key to generating private financing in order to achieve our climate objectives and face other environmental challenges.” The European Union requires about 350,000 million euros per year between 2021 and 2030 in additional investments in order to achieve the 2030 climate goal.

Sustainable finance

The EU wants sustainability to be the main factor in the post-Covid-19 economic recovery and the financial sector can contribute to achieving the goals of the Green Deal.

Among the strategys they are proposing to expand the current funding toolbox to facilitate access to transition funding. Second, increase the insertion of SMEs and consumers.

Other measures include building the resilience of the economic and financial system to sustainability risks, extending the financial sector’s contribution to sustainability and ensuring the integrity of the EU financial system and monitoring its transition to sustainability.

Finally, they highlight the decision to promote international initiatives and standards in the field of sustainable finance, in addition to supporting EU partner countries. The Commission will also report on the implementation of the Strategy by the end of 2023 and will actively support Member States in their sustainable finance efforts.

M. Rodríguez

source: socialinvestor.es

La entrada The EU has a new sustainable finance strategy apareció primero en Bitfinance.

Twitter’s CFO Ned Segal has announced that the company plans to establish payments to its workers with bitcoin, as indicated by the manager in an interview with CNBC. 

In addition, the company plans to include the popular cryptocurrency on its balance sheet as part of the company’s economic plan to pay its employees and suppliers in the cryptocurrency.

“We have thought a lot from the beginning to consider how we could pay employees if they request to be paid in bitcoin, how we could pay a provider if they request to be paid in btc and if we need to have btc on our balance sheet.”

Twitter’s intention to venture into the crypto world has been going on for a few months and the CEO of the company, Jack Dorsey, has expressed it on his official networks, especially on Twitter where only the word bitcoin is displayed in his ‘bio’.

Many companies have dabbled in cryptocurrencies due to the great impact they have had on the financial market on a global scale, as is the case of the payments company, Dorsey, who invested USD 50 million in bitcoin in October of last year.

K. Villarroel

Source: diariobitcoin

La entrada Twitter plans to pay its employees in bitcoin apareció primero en Bitfinance.