Aximetria, a firm providing a personal finance app for both fiat and cryptocurrencies, has received a license from the Swiss Financial Services Standard Association (VQF).
Aximetria mentioned that the license will enable the firm to operate as a crypto intermediary and simplify its onboarding process. The VQF license is endorsed by Switzerland’s overarching financial regulator, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). An award means the holder performs activities with respect to the organization’s anti-money laundering (AML) and Know-your-customer (KYC) rules.
Now, Aximetria will be able to start its operations as a crypto-financial intermediary as per the Swiss-Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Alexey Ermakov, who is the Founder and CEO of Aximetria, said in the press release, “The Swiss license is of vital importance to Aximetria and our customers, partners, investors and the industry at large, including the blockchain ecosystem.”
He further added,
“Compared to the EMI (Electronic Money Institution license), which is the most popular regulation standard for European and British companies, the Swiss license is much more desirable for a fintech company. This is because it also extends to crypto laws in Switzerland and gives us a wide range of future business development, including loans, FX, e-money accounts and salary projects.”
The app also provides exchange and international payments using the U.S. dollar, the euro and cryptocurrencies, and crypto-enabled debit card in several jurisdictions. The firm states that customers have to pass a strict know-your-customer (KYC) process before they can buy or sell the cryptocurrencies.
The financial intermediary license means that the Aximetria will have to meet with a various number of rules and guidelines. These include audits, AML Compliance, on-boarding, KYC, and KYB (know-your-business) processes for users, that will be rigorously traced by the regulator on a daily basis. But, the firm also expects to obtain a fintech license in the near future, it stated.
Ermakov stated, “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.”
Aximetria’s primary purpose is to offer ‘Swiss-level’ financial services to users in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and also to those who are underserved by traditional banks. Lately, the firm released its app in Spanish and Portuguese to expand its user base in Brazil and Latin America.