Aximetria, a firm offering a personal finance app for both fiat and cryptocurrencies, has been awarded a license from the Swiss Financial Services Standards Association (VQF).
The firm told CoinDesk exclusively on Monday that the license – which is recognized by Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) – enables it to definitively state that its product is "fully compliant" with Switzerland's anti-money laundering laws.
The news also means Aximetria can now start operations as a crypto financial intermediary under the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The VQF is a self-regulatory organization, primarily responsible for the supervision of anti-money-laundering (AML) and prevention of terrorism funding compliance for Swiss financial intermediaries.
Alexey Ermakov, founder and CEO of Aximetria, said:
Something like a crypto-friendly TransferWise, the app offers exchange and international payments using the U.S. dollar, the euro and cryptocurrencies, as well as a crypto-enabled debit card in some jurisdictions – the firms says customers must pass a "rigorous" remote know-your-customer (KYC) process before they can buy or sell currencies.
The financial intermediary license means that Aximetria will also have to comply with a greater number of rules and guidelines, including audits, AML compliance, on-boarding, KYC and KYB (know-your-business) processes for users, which will be strictly monitored by the regulator on an ongoing basis. However, it also raises the prospects for gaining a fintech license in the future, it said.
“We started with the sandbox model, then we went through all the options for applying the requirements, which were triggers for obtaining a banking license. Finally, we found the business model that most accurately met the project’s requisites: compliance with the AML requirements, the possibility of remote onboarding from anywhere in the world, and other benefits,” said Ermakov.
Aximetria said it aims to provide "Swiss-level" financial services to consumers in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, including those who are underserved by traditional banks. It recently launched its app in Portuguese and Spanish in a bid to grow its user base in Brazil and Latin America.
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The firm added that it believes regulatory compliance is essential for the "continued development and maturity of the digital cryptocurrency finance market."
Swiss flags image via Shutterstock