S. African Bank allows FIs to service crypto accounts

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is moving forward with a recommendation to allow banks to handle companies that handle crypto assets.

The new guidelines published by the bank state that banks can now act as a “conduit” for funds from crypto-asset service providers, and can handle customers willing to buy or receive payments that way.

It comes as some banks in the area had previously cut ties with crypto companies due to the risk, and the greater possibility of crypto being used to launder money or breach sanctions. The SARB found this to be an overcorrection, writing that banks can sensibly look at the risks of a crypto company and decide on an individual basis whether to do business with them, rather than banning them all.

The SARB said it believed there was a threat to financial integrity from the “wholesale termination” of relationships with these crypto companies.

“Risk assessment does not necessarily mean that institutions should seek to avoid risk altogether,” the SARB said.

Regulation of cryptocurrency companies has been a hot topic around the world, with the issue of risk and volatility informing everything that happens.

Read more: New Fed guidelines set to help crypto companies gain access to the central banking system

PYMNTS recently wrote that the Federal Reserve has issued new guidelines for institutions holding crypto in the United States to potentially obtain “main accounts” with the central bank.

The press release from the central bank’s board did not specifically refer to crypto, but it said that any new requests for access to Fed accounts and payment services would now be reviewed with a “transparent and risk-based” set of factors.

There has been much debate surrounding the regulation of digital assets, with Fed Deputy Chair Lael Brainard saying earlier this year that there should be more such regulation before the industry grew large enough to take on more risk.

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