Julia Leung, the next chief executive of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) due to start her three-year term on Jan. 1, called for stricter crypto regulation when speaking at the city’s Fintech Week last month.
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Fast facts
- Leung, currently the SFC’s deputy CEO and an executive director, will take over from Ashley Alder who is leaving the SFC after an 11-year term to be chairman of the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority.
- “As the SFC enters its third decade, the Commission will redouble its effort to continue delivering as a world-class market regulator,” said Leung in an SFC announcement. The SFC will “strive to ensure that Hong Kong’s regulatory framework and market infrastructure are fit” to help the city’s financial market thrive amid increasing connectivity with the world.
- In November, Leung said at Hong Kong’s FinTech Week that the city was mulling regulations on anti-money laundering in crypto, trading platforms and stablecoins.
- “A clear regulatory environment is just as important as the cocoon in metamorphosis. Some may say the cocoon is limiting innovation and development, but like all good regulation, it will help fintech firms and their services to incubate,” she said.
See related article: Hong Kong mulls regulatory requirements for local licensed crypto exchanges: report