Regulatory Blog

This blog post serves as a timely reminder that the transitional period under the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act 2022 (VASP Act) will come to an end on 31 July 2023. This leaves just two months for businesses engaging in virtual asset service providers (VASP) activities to take action.

On 12 May 2023, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) issued Circular 573 announcing the release of the new version of the RBSF-MC Form (Version 6). This form is an annual requirement for all regulated entities and collects statistical information.

On 12 May 2023, the UK Minister for the Overseas Territories, elected leaders, and representatives of the Overseas Territories met at the Joint Ministerial Council. Key partnership principles were reaffirmed, emphasising the integral role of the OTs within the UK. Collaboration, mutual interest, and shared values were highlighted. A new UK government strategy on the OTs was also announced, with assigned ministers responsible for each government department's relationship with the OTs. The principle of self-determination for the people of the OT was emphasised.

On 11 May 2023, the European Parliament announced in a press release that the Internal Market Committee and the Civil Liberties Committee have adopted a draft negotiating mandate on the proposal for a regulation on harmonised rules on artificial intelligence. If approved, the AI Act would be the first regulation of artificial intelligence introduced in the world.

On 12 May 2023, the International Tax Authority issued a reminder to all Financial Institutions regarding the inclusion of mandatory Tax Identification Number information in filings, for the 2020 reporting year onwards. Additionally, the ITA provided an update on the acceptable sequential codes issued by the United States Internal Revenue Service for reporting purposes from calendar year 2022 onwards.

On 5 May 2023, the Cayman Islands' Ministry of Financial Services issued a press release stating that a delegation led by the Attorney General, the Hon. Samuel Bulgin, KC and the Minister for Financial Services and Commerce, the Hon. André Ebanks, recently visited Mexico to provide updates to the Financial Action Task Force on their efforts to improve anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism policies and procedures. The delegation also discussed the FATF’s final recommended action for the Cayman Islands.

Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the UK Government, alongside the member states of the European Union, the United States of America and other global stakeholders issued significant new sanctions. View a table of all the sanctions here

On 17 May 2023, Politico reported that the Irish Data Protection Commission is set to issue a record privacy fine to Meta on Monday 22 May. As reported by Politico, the DPC is expected to make a finding that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, mishandled users' data during its transfer to the United States.

On 16 May 2023, the Council of the European Union took a significant step in regulating the crypto-assets space by adopting the regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) and the regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (the Travel Rule Regulation). This marked the final legislative approval required before publication of MiCA and the Travel Rule Regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union.