Libra Association Pursues FINMA Payment License

The Libra Association is petitioning the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) for a Swiss payment system license for its planned Libra cryptocurrency, Reuters reported on Wednesday (Sept. 11).

“Due to the issuance of Libra payment tokens, the services planned by the Libra project would clearly go beyond those of a pure payment system,” FINMA said in a statement to Reuters.

FINMA said that oversight of the range of services provided by Libra would follow the maxim “same risks, same rules,” the news outlet said. “The highest international anti-money laundering standards would need to be ensured throughout the entire ecosystem of the project.”

The social media giant wants to move forward and launch Libra in June despite global questioning and hesitation.

“Switzerland offers a pathway for responsible financial services innovation harmonized with global financial norms and strong oversight,” Facebook’s Libra Association said in a statement to CoinTelegraph. “We are engaging in constructive dialogue with FINMA and are encouraged to see a feasible pathway for an open-source blockchain network to become a regulated, low-friction, high-security payment system.”

Just yesterday, U.S. Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker told reporters in the Swiss capital that cryptocurrency projects must meet the highest standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing if they are to get off the ground.

“Whether it’s bitcoin, Ethereum, Libra, our message is the same to all of these companies: anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism has to be built into your design from the get-go,” Mandelker said.

“Switzerland, like a number of other countries, has promoted itself as a hub for FinTech and for innovation — and so, of course, any country that promotes itself in that way, in my view, it’s incumbent upon that country to take these particular concerns at the highest level in(to) the utmost regard,” she added.