Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of bank accounts for (a) crowd funding and (b) digital currency businesses.

Harriett Baldwin

As the Chancellor announced at the Budget in March, the Government intends to bring digital currency exchanges into the scope of anti-money laundering regulation. The digital currency industry has highlighted the current lack of regulation as one of the obstacles firms face when trying to get bank accounts in the UK. The new regulatory regime will be designed to support firms’ access to these vital banking services, and to foster an environment in which legitimate digital currency businesses can flourish in the UK. The Treasury will consult on the detail of regulation shortly.

The Government has supported the crowdfunding industry by consulting on whether to extend ISA eligibility to debt and equity crowdfunding and helping equity crowdfunding through the tax efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) – without which 24% of investors say they would not have invested.