GFIN reveals next phase for cross-border testing pilot, with Ascent among 8 participants

The Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) has revealed the eight FinTech companies it will continue working with in the cross-border testing pilot.

GFIN was launched earlier in the year, a network of 29 organisations committed to supporting consumers and a focus on improving interactions between companies and regulators. It also established a cross-border pilot which let’s qualifying companies test their products, services, and business models in multiple jurisdictions.

There were a total of 44 applications submitted to the 17 participating regulators, which span, Bermuda, Canada, Swaziland, Hungary, Israel, Kenya, the UK, Lithuania, South Africa, Australia, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Singapore, the US,  and the UAE, and others. Each regulator received at least one application.

The applications were all screened against individual criteria, areas of interest, and the regulator’s ability to support the activity. Following this, eight companies were chosen to take part in the next phase which sees them develop testing plans with their relevant regulators for their cross-border trial – some of these will involve live transactions.

Firms which create plans that meet the jurisdiction’s criteria will take part in the pilot testing phase. The companies which will take part in the test will be revealed later in Q2.

A large number of applications were from the RegTech and cryptoasset related industries.

For those which did not make the criteria for tests, GFIN members will continue discussions to offer other support where possible. Some of the applicants have decided they do not need a sandbox and will proceed to testing.

Regulators are only responsible for applicants relevant to them in the cross-border trials.

The eight companies includes compliance automation company Ascent RegTech, which will be monitored by regulators in Australia, Canada, UAE, UK, and Hong Kong.

Ascent is an end-to-end compliance platform which uses natural language processing and artificial intelligence to convert regulatory text into workable tasks. Data is collected from a selection of channels and includes historical and real-time documents/rules directly from regulators, personalised for each business.

The RegTech recently released its Federal Regulators pack, which covers compliance for regulations from a host of authorities including FinCEN, FINRA and SEC

Digital identity platform Onfido is also taking part in the phase and its relevant regulators span Hong Kong, the UK, Lithuania, and Canada. Another RegTech making this next phase is blockchain-based KYC and onboarding platform Tradle, which is working with regulators in the UAE and the UK.

The remaining companies in the phase are digital asset trading solution Alphapoint, digital securities platform ATLANT, real estate investment app Coinvestion, cross-border payments app DACX, and behavioural analytics company Starling Trust.

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