Hong Kong govt pressures banking giants to accept crypto clients: Report
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which serves as the region's central bank and regulator, has reportedly put pressure on major banks including HSBC and Standard Chartered to accept crypto exchanges as clients.
According to a June 15 report from the Financial Times, which cited three sources familiar with the matter, the HKMA questioned the UK-based firms as well as the Bank of China in a May meeting — asking the institutions why they weren’t taking on cryptocurrency exchanges as clients.
Less than a month before on April 27, the HKMA issued a circular to banking institutions urging them to pay attention to new market developments and encouraging them to adopt a more ambitious approach to new sectors such as the crypto market.
In the document, Hong Kong’s central bank specifically required the institutions to help crypto firms, which it calls “virtual asset service providers” (VASPs), in gaining access to banking services.
According to a source familiar with the content’s of last month’s meeting, the HKMA “encouraged the banks to not be afraid.” The source added that there is opposition to taking on crypto clients.
“We are seeing some resistance from senior executives at traditional banks,” they said.
Cointelegraph contacted the HKMA, HSBC and Standard Chartered for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Hong Kong’s pro-crypto pressure comes amid a turbulent regulatory environment for exchanges in the United States.
On June 5, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance for violating domestic securities laws. The next day on June 6, the SEC sued Coinbase on similar allegations.
In a June 12 filing, Binance.US claimed that the SEC's lawsuit was placing significant pressure on its
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