Saudi Central Bank Calls IMF for “Good Supervision” of Crypto Activities

Ayman Alsayari, Governor of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), has warned against the potential dangers and risks of cryptocurrencies and their brokers.

Addressing at a session on the global economy and crypto assets at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting in Morocco, Alsayari urged the IMF for “good supervision” over digital assets, to combat the risks.

“We need good supervision, regulation, and coordination of crypto currency activities. In this context, we support the work and relevant roadmap of the IMF and the Financial Stability Board to address risks related to cryptocurrencies.”

His remarks come after IMF and global financial regulators set a roadmap in September, to coordinate measures and stop cryptos from undermining financial stability.

The IMF and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) released a paper that suggested licensing crypto service providers and called for countries to implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standards.

“A comprehensive policy and regulatory response for crypto-assets is necessary to address the risks of crypto-assets to macroeconomic and financial stability,” the paper noted.

Governor Alsayari also said that the global economy is seeing a drastic slump due to increasing inflation rates.

“Tight monetary policies are being adopted around the world to bring down inflation. As a result, the global growth rate is expected to be around three percent this year and next.”

IMF Crypto Roadmap

The G20 FMCBG meeting held at Marrakech, Morocco on Friday, also unveiled the G20 Roadmap for regulating crypto assets and reforming multilateral development banks (MDBs).

The detailed roadmap would help foster global policy and crypto regulations while considering the implications on Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs).

The FSB recommended regulations rather than an outright ban on digital assets. “This detailed and action-oriented Roadmap is essential to achieve our common goals of macro-economic and financial stability and to ensure effective, flexible, and coordinated implementation of the comprehensive policy framework for crypto assets,” the G20 communique read.