Central banks will want oversight of Facebook’s Libra: Bank of England

The Bank of England is open to the idea of letting new payment services such as Facebook’s upcoming Libra hold funds with the central bank, Mark Carney said Thursday, June 20. (AP)

• “It has to be safe, or it’s not going to happen,” Band of England Governor Mark Carney said
• Facebook proposed a new currency and payment system called Libra

LONDON: Major central banks and regulators will want oversight of Facebook’s proposed new currency and payment system, Libra, to ensure it is safe and does not allow money laundering or finance terrorism, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said.
“It has to be safe, or it’s not going to happen,” Carney told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Friday. “We, the Fed, all the major global central banks and supervisors, would have direct regulatory (oversight).”
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority — responsible for consumer protection and anti-money laundering — would also have a major supervisory role to play, Carney added.
Carney said on Thursday that Facebook cannot expect its new Libra currency to benefit from the same unregulated free-for-all that helped the company achieve a dominant position in social media.