Banks may stop servicing Facebook due to Libra concerns - ING

• The head of ING expressed concerns about Libra launch.
• The bank won't deal with the project unless are regulatory concerns are cleared.

Facebook may face issues with banks if it fails to address regulatory concerns before Libra launch, the chief executive of ING Ralph Hamers says as cited by the Financial Times.

Ralph Hamers is concerned with money laundering aspects of the stablecoin proposed by the social media giant. He said that banks would bee reluctant to service a company that may facilitate financial crime in the system.

“Then we can take measures and exit the client, or not accept the client, so those are discussions you would have to have,” he explained. 

Moreover, he was confident that Libra launch could affect the relationship between banks and the project’s creator Facebook.

ING is a large and highly regulated financial institution that does not want to take risks with anything that might be potentially dangerous or illegal. That's why thee bank has decided avoid dealing with the project unless it is in full compliance will all regulatory requirements. 

“We’ve said we’ll take a look and see how this develops,” Hamers added.

Notably, other bankers are also skeptical about the project. Thus, recently the head of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon said that Libra will never happen.

"We already have stablecoins, so they're not the first to do that," he said in the interview with Bloomberg without gaining much into details.

Read also: BaFin President wants Libra and regulators to be more creative

Libra forces central banks to reconsider their operations - the Head of the Riksbank

 

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