The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said yesterday that in April it had asked lenders to meet the business needs of licensed crypto exchanges.

The comments were in response to a Financial Times report which said lenders, including HSBC (0005) and Standard Chartered (2888), were pressured by the authority to take on crypto exchanges as clients.

The UK-based lenders and the Bank of China Hong Kong (2388) were questioned by the authority last month on why crypto exchanges were not being accepted as clients, the report added.

Standard Chartered said it was in regular dialogue with regulators on different subjects, while HSBC said that it remained engaged in policies and developments in Hong Kong’s nascent crypto industry.

Separately, Citigroup in the second quarter will book severance costs associated with about 1,600 job cuts, causing expenses to climb by as much as $400 million (HK$3.12 billion) this quarter compared with the year’s first three months, chief financial officer Mark Mason said.

So far this year, the firm has set aside severance for 5,000 employees affected by the cuts, he said.

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news/section/2/253388/Lenders-‘told-to-serve-crypto-exchanges’

Category: Hong Kong