In the midst of the ongoing binance regulatory woes in several jurisdictions, Barclays bank clients in the UK will no longer be able to deposit funds from their accounts to binance, after the bank puts a stop to all money transfers to Binance effective immediately.
The London-based British bank announced on Monday that it has prohibited all its clients from using their debit and credit cards to make payments to Binance, in an effort to help the clients keep their money safe.
Barclays said that the decision was made after the recent ban that was imposed on all Binance operations in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
“The decision has been taken following the FCA warning to consumers.”
The bank also clarified that the ban is only for deposits and it doesn’t prevent the customers from withdrawing their funds from Binance to their Barclays accounts.
Barclays’ Stand highlights the new challenge that UK lenders are facing, which is to determine just how much they should let their clients send or receive to and from the giant crypto exchange and others as well. The lenders are now worried about conducting business with crypto exchanges mainly due to the nature of the largely unregulated cryptocurrency market.
The ban also makes Barclays the second UK bank to restrict binance transactions after NatWest said last week that it has restricted cash transfers to some crypto exchanges and particularly mentioned Binance. NatWest gave its primary reason for the decision as due to the rising cases of crypto-related scams and schemes that have been victimizing their customers.
Binance’s Compliance Standards in Question
According to people familiar with Binance operations, its high growth rate and a wide line of financial products have often taken the company a step behind with regulatory authorities around the world.
However, a statement from the CEO of a payments company, which facilitated Binance’s access to the wider financial market but has since cut all ties, said that Binance could be at fault. He posited that while Binance talks a big game on anti-money laundering and know-your-customer rules, the exchange can sometimes be “resistant to throwing human resources at compliance issues.”
On the other hand, Binance said during its response to the FCA ban, that it has set high compliance standards for itself.
“We take a collaborative approach in working with regulators and we take our compliance obligations very seriously. We are actively keeping abreast of changing policies, rules, and laws in this new space.”
Binance also acknowledged the FCA Binance Markets Limited (BML) warning and added that the FCA had no direct impact on Binance.com or its services since BML is a separate legal entity.