SC, Bank Negara working on cryptocurrency guidelines

KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission (SC) will likely unveil a framework on cryptocurrency in the coming months.

The capital market regulator’s chairman, Tan Sri Ranjit Ajit Singh, said the SC was currently still working on the guidelines for the digital currency, alongside Bank Negara.

“I hesitate to give a specific time frame, but we are working on it quite closely.

“We also want to make sure that we have taken into consideration the developments that have occurred quite recently -- the different positions taken on by different regulators around the world.

“Our role is to craft regulation, whereby there is the right sort of conditions in place for market integrity as well as investor protection.

“These are the dimensions of what we will put forward in our framework,” said Ranjit during a media briefing after the SCxSC Digital Finance Conference 2017 here yesterday.

In his opening speech, he said the SC was aware of the growing interest of Malaysian investors in trading in cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

The SC is reviewing relevant regulations and guidelines to facilitate functional and effective use cases of digital assets in the capital market, which include the secondary market trading of established cryptocurrency and digital assets.

Apart from that, the SC is targeting to license the first robo-adviser in the first half of 2018.

“Robo-advisory services provide a more convenient, accessible and affordable channel for retail investors to gain access to portfolio management services, which traditionally have been reserved for highnet-worth individuals.

“Since the launch of the Digital Investment Management (DIM) framework, we have received strong interest from both incumbent capital market players and startups, and we expect the first digital investment manager to be licensed in the first half of next year,” Ranjit said.

The DIM framework was launched in May this year to pave the way for automated discretionary portfolio management services to be offered to Malaysian investors, making the SC the first in the region to launch the framework.

As a move to keep abreast of global developments in the digital finance industry, the SC has entered into several fintech cooperation agreements, or more commonly known as FinTech Bridges, and is in the midst of pursuing additional linkages.