With illicit uses of Libra at the top of watchdogs’ concerns, he moved on to talk about know-your-customer (KYC) verification for the new payment network, saying Calibra – the subsidiary developing a wallet app for Libra – and the Libra Association will have to do more to prove users’ identities.
Leaked comments from an internal Facebook meeting in July show CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressing regulatory and customer identification concerns voiced by employees over the social media giant’s new payment network, Libra.
In the closed-door staff meeting – held soon after Calibra chief David Marcus responded to lawmakers at hearings in the U.S. – Zuckerberg acknowledged that Libra has elicited large amounts of public criticism. However, he added, it’s been relatively straightforward behind closed doors.
“The public things, I think, tend to be a little more dramatic”, Zuckerberg said, according to The Verge, which published a transcript of the meeting on Tuesday. “But a bigger part of it is private engagement with regulators around the world, and those, I think, often are more substantive and less dramatic.”
Zuckerberg said:
“We already focus a lot on real identity, across especially Facebook, so there’s even more that we need to do in order to have this kind of a product.”
Echoing Libra co-creator David Marcus before Congress earlier the same month, Zuckerberg said money laundering and terrorism remain top issues to address. “There’s a lot of important issues that need to be dealt with in preventing money laundering, preventing financing of terrorists and people who the different governments say you can’t do business with”, he said.
Perhaps indicating a change of stance after PR disasters like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Zuckerberg said the company will is taking a more open approach to new initiatives.
“But part of what we’re trying to do overall on these big projects now that touch very socially important aspects of society is have a more consultative approach”, he concluded.
London Stock Exchange-Backed Nivaura Hires Senior HSBC Banker
Nivaura, a London-based regulated fintech startup backed by the London Stock Exchange Group, has hired senior banker Chris Jones from HSBC, the company said.
The company helps users process capital market legal documents. The marquis hire will advise on product features and leverage city relationships to mainstream use of Nivaura’s blockchain-based system.
In February, Nivaura raised a $20 million strategic investment round led by the London Stock Exchange Group. Other investors in the funding round included Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Orrick, Santander InnoVentures, Aegon Asset Management, Middlegame Ventures and Digital Currency Group.
Before joining the startup, Jones worked for HSBC based in London for 15 years, as global head of local currency syndicate for eight years and global head of MTNs and structured notes for seven years.
He also worked in a similar role at Deutsche Bank prior to HSBC, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In the statement, Jones said Nivaura’s progress is partly due to “collaborating with the market incumbents” and hopes his “experience and relationships will help enhance those efforts.”
Jones said:
“There is a significant opportunity to help the capital markets become more digital.”
Nivaura CEO Avtar Sehra added:
“Chris has a deep understanding of capital markets execution, and in recent years has also been involved in a number of proprietary and third-party capital markets technology initiatives.”
Nivaura’s flagship platform, Aurora, uses the blockchain to help banks, issuers and law firms create and execute legal documents relating to new issues and disseminate data to agents, securities depositories and custodians.
Their system can be built on any blockchain, but their most recent transaction – for Santander – was done on ethereum.
Founded in 2016, Nivaura said it participated in all five regulatory sandboxes from the U.K. regulator Financial Conduct Authority, gaining the latest legal approvals.
