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Libra Association

Libra Association Hires Former Banking Regulator as General Counsel for Payments Subsidiary

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The Libra Association, which was formed to oversee the company’s digital currency initiatives, including the digital currency Libra, announced hiring a former banking regulator and industry veteran as general counsel for its payments subsidiary. According to its official release, the association announced the appointment of Saumya Bhavsar for the position of General Counsel of Libra Networks, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Association.

Bhavskar had previously worked within top U.S. and EU banks and regulatory agencies where she reportedly led legal teams that advised on and ensured compliance with cross-border regulations, settlement agreements with US authorities as well as significant merger transactions. Most recently, she served as a Managing Director, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, and Group Head of the Data Protection Office at Credit Suisse for three years.

Following the development, Bhavskar stated,

“I am thrilled to be joining the Libra Association as it progresses toward enabling a more inclusive global financial system. Along with many in the banking industry, I have been watching the Libra project from afar and believe the Libra payment system is poised to transform the industry and enable unprecedented financial innovation and inclusion at a time when we need it most.”

Bhavsar’s two decades of experience in banking regulation across the public and private sectors, extensive knowledge of banking, securities, and privacy laws and regulations would be crucial for the Facebook-backed project that has been facing regulatory headwinds at seemingly every turn.

Libra Association, the independent member organization building a blockchain-powered payment system to advance financial inclusion and financial services innovation, was established back in 2019. The project has had a rocky start. Its association with the Mark Zuckerberg-led social networking site further proved to be damaging taking given Facebook’s history of selling users’ data without their knowledge. It faced extreme scrutiny from regulators, politicians, and potential users.

Recently the European Central Bank has warned that financial stability and data privacy could be under threat from digital currencies issued by giant technology companies such as Facebook’s Libra. Despite the backlash, it is important to acknowledge that the proposed permissioned blockchain-based payment system did prompt the central banks to wake up to central bank digital currencies [CBDCs]

Former FinCEN Director Joins Libra Association

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The Libra Association has appointed Robert Werner, a former FinCEN director, as its first chief lawyer. Previously, Werner was the head of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network March to December 2006. During his spell at FinCEN, Werner appointed a new CIO to strengthen the department’s information technology capacity as per FinCEN.

As per the release, Werner has sizable experience in the regulatory space, financial crime compliance and administrative positions, from his past periods in both the public and private sectors. In the private sector, he served management positions at both HSBC and Goldman Sachs, according to today’s announcement.

Libra Association appoints former FinCEN director as General Counsel

Werner served as the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, (OFAC), the Senior Counsel to the Under Secretary of the Treasury, the Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement and Intelligence at the General Counsel’s office, Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

On 19 May, the Libra Association announced the appointment of Robert Werner as General Counsel for the most latest high-profile employment. In addition, Werner is also the ex-CEO and the founder of GRH Consulting.

Notably, the ex-FinCEN head also previously held roles in the US Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel; as the advisor to the Attorney General and White house counsel. In addition, he was also a clerk to U.S Supreme Court judges Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Libra Association make two high-profile appointments

The hiring of Werner comes amid Facebook Libra’s latest efforts to steer through the regulatory waves by making changes to its whitepaper. Interestingly, two weeks ago on May 6, the Libra Association appointed Stuart Levey, another former HSBc leader; and former undersecretary for terrorism to president Barack Obama, as the initial chief executive.

The two high-profile appointments follow the beginning of Libra Association’s process to navigate through Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) payment licensing; and release of the amended whitepaper.

Singapore’s Temasek Joins Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Project

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Singapore’s Temasek, which is among the largest institutional investment firms globally, has thrown its weight behind the under fire Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project.  The state-backed investment firm is the latest organization to join the Libra Association.

After losing key partners due to regulatory concerns over Libra, the Libra Association announced the addition of Temasek and two more new members on May 14. The other inclusions are digital currency investment firm Paradigm and private equity firm Slow Ventures. 

Singapore’s Temasek becomes first Libra Association member from Asia

Besides being the first state-backed company to join, Thursday’s inclusion of Temasek to the Libra Association made the investment firm the first Asia-based member. Singapore is widely acknowledged as the financial technology hub of Asia. In addition, the country’s administration is very supportive of cryptocurrency related technology, and financial technology innovations.

Facebook revealed its Libra cryptocurrency project back in 2019; as an international digital payments platform that will be backed by multiple fiat currencies. Nevertheless, Facebook’s cryptocurrency idea was heavily scrutinized by regulators globally, who were worried the cryptocurrency would disrupt the financial system; giving a firm with privacy scandals total control over people’s resources. 

Temasek among Libra Association’s key members

Following the scrutiny by the U.S government and various other governments, a number of high profile companies have pulled out from the project.Global firms such as MasterCard, Visa, Vodafone, PayPal and others have abandoned the Libra cryptocurrency project. As a result, Singapore’s Temasek is now one of the most significant members of the Libra Association; with a portfolio value of about $219 billion.

“Our participation in the Libra Association as a member will allow us; to contribute towards a regulated global network for cost effective retail payments,” Chia Song Hwee; the deputy CEO at Temasek, highlighted in a statement. “Many developments in the space excite us – we look forward to further exploring the potential of the technology.”

 

Tagomi Becomes the Part of Facebook’s Libra Association to Develop a Cryptocurrency

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Facebook’s Libra is again gaining heat as yet another firm has joined the independent consortium of Libra, the Libra Association. Per the latest report, a digital asset company, Tagomi is yet another name in a list of members of Facebook’s Libra Association,

With the joining intent in place, Tagomi aims to invest about $10 million for the development of yet to launch Libra stablecoin. Noticeably, Tagomi’s report of joining the Libra Association comes in the wake of Shopify’s inclusion in the Libra Association. Interestingly, Tagomi will be the 22nd member of Facebook’s Libra Association.

Following the contribution of $10 million to Facebook’s Libra, Tagomi can also be able to have a node that gives it authority to validate the transactions of Libra stablecoin.

While the official announcement from Tagomi is yet to be announced this week, the president of Tagomi Marc Bhargava acknowledged the news and stated that;

 “We’re excited to become a member of @Libra_, sharing a common mission to expand financial inclusion. We believe the Libra project is poised to create a simple, inclusive, and global payment system that will empower billions of people left out of the global economy.”

It’s worth noting that, Tagomi is a two years old entity that establishes itself as a premier broker in crypto and provides users with trading, margin, custody, lending, financing, and more in a single account. The entity focuses on bridging institutional capital to digital assets and supports their democratization.

By becoming the part of Libra Association, Tagomi will spend at least $10 million in developing a cryptocurrency, and this investment will help gather dividends from interest earned on Libra Reserve’s money.

Tagomi and Shopify’s interest in Libra Association is quite surprising to many as many well-known entities such as Visa, Vodafone, Mastercard, PayPal, and Strip rejected the project due to increasing regulatory concerns.

On the other side, Shopify emphasized the importance of Libra Association and stated that they decided to join the group as to make commerce better for everybody:

“Our mission is to make commerce better for everyone and to do that, we spend a lot of our time thinking about how to make commerce better in parts of the world where money and banking could be far better. That’s why we decided to become a member of the Libra Association. This is one step, but not the only step we’ll be taking to be a part of the solution to this global problem.”

Moving forward, the Libra Association is aiming to increase the number of members. At the moment, the Association has more than 1,400 companies in its waiting list. To join the Libra Association, a two-thirds majority of existing members have to agree to accept a new member.