On Wednesday, Indian officials alongside British officials discussed the need for “robust global approaches” for dealing with crypto-assets and explored new areas for collaboration, including regulatory frameworks for pension funds.
During the second meeting of the India-UK Financial Markets Dialogue which was held in London to deepen bilateral ties in the financial sector, the officials from both nations highlighted the issue.
Notably, the meeting marked the first in-person financial dialogue between both nations since 2017. The dialogue focused on six themes – banking, payments and crypto-assets, insurance and reinsurance, capital markets, asset management, and sustainable finance.
Following the discussions between the officials, private sector partners, led by the co-chairs of the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP), Bill Winters and Uday Kotak, joined the talks. Quoting a joint statement released after the meeting:
Participants discussed international developments regarding crypto-assets, the importance of robust global approaches, and progress in delivering the G20 roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments.
The joint statement revealed that the participants in the meeting identified emerging areas for collaboration, including knowledge exchange on regulatory frameworks for pension funds (PFs). In addition, they also discussed potential investment opportunities for PFs and the development of ecosystems including technology-based solutions for the social stock exchange.
Besides exploring opportunities to collaborate on Sovereign Green Bonds, the two sides explored the scope of leveraging asset management industries for deeper cross-border trade and investment.
While crypto regulation has been one of the most discussed topics across the globe, India and the UK are at different stages of developing their respective frameworks. India in particular has been giving a push to a collaborative approach towards crypto-assets and digital payment systems as part of the priorities for its G20 presidency.
Despite the absence of crypto regulation in the country, Indian citizens have favorably looked at cryptocurrencies. The citizens have been heavily investing in crypto and will continue to do so in the coming times as well.
On the other hand, the regulatory scenario for cryptocurrencies is quite tricky in the UK given the different approaches of the lawmakers and regulators. In particular, Ashley Adler, the new and current head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is said to have a stricter approach to regulating cryptocurrencies.
However, because Rishi Sunak, the current prime minister of the country had previously expressed his desire to make the country a crypto hub, lawmakers are considering this aspect. To this, Andrew Griffith, UK’s financial services minister, promised to bring forward timely, sensible, and balanced regulation to allow the safe use of this technology while ensuring regulatory clarity and facilitating financial-technology investment.
Several authorities across the globe have often highlighted the need to have a comprehensive global framework for regulating cryptocurrencies. In December, Mark Branson, president of the financial regulator in Germany, requested the global authorities to cooperate and sanction strict laws on the digital assets sector.