UK funds get green light for tokenisation development

• UK authorised funds can now develop and implement tokenisation models.
• The green light comes after the Technology Working Group of the Government’s Asset Management Taskforce published its report on UK fund tokenisation.
• The HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) collaborated on the initiative.

UK investment funds have the approval to develop tokenisation, with the development coming after the establishment of a government taskforce on asset management earlier this year.

The announcement follows the publication of a report on tokenisation by the Technology Working Group of the Government’s Asset Management Taskforce, the Investment Association (IA) said in a press release.

According to the industry body, the ‘UK Fund Tokenisation – A Blueprint for Implementation‘ report includes input from HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and provides for a roadmap on use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for fund tokenisation in the UK.

Milestone for UK funds industry

Allowing tokenised funds to adopt DLT in their operations, from sales to redemptions has the potential to open the industry to further growth, Michelle Scrimgeour, Chair of the Working Group and CEO at Legal & General Investment Management, said in a statement.

“Today marks a milestone in the implementation of tokenisation within the UK’s fund industry. Fund tokenisation has great potential to revolutionise how our industry operates, by enabling greater efficiency and liquidity, enhanced risk management and the creation of more bespoke portfolios,” Scrimgeour added.

The FCA said it welcomed the Working Group’s report, noting that it sets out guidelines on adoption of tokenisation models within the UK’s current legal and regulatory framework.

“We welcome the report today which identifies a way forward for tokenisation and has concluded that there are no significant regulatory barriers to the adoption of the proposed baseline model,” said Sarah Pritchard, FCA’s executive director of Markets and International.

UK’s support for innovation

Today’s announcement comes just a day after UK Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt proposed legislation for the country’s Digital Securities Sandbox. As highlighted by CoinJournal, the initiative aims at promoting digital assets use in financial markets. 

The initiative adds to the recently outlined Digital Sandbox that the FCA envisioned for early-stage digital assets firms.

Together with the passage of a key markets law recognizing crypto trading as regulated activity there’s been clarity on stablecoin regulation. As other developments come into the picture, what the industry sees are milestones that align with the UK’s quest to become the global hub for blockchain and web3 innovation.