A Swiss start-up attempting to build a payments network between Europe and Asia is on its way to a fintech license in Switzerland.
Saphirstein clinched a license to operate as a fintech from Swiss financial regulator Finma, operating chief Nico Buechel told finews.asia on Tuesday. The license would be the second granted after Yapeal, under a Swiss scheme to foster financial start-ups.
Zurich-based Saphirstein isn’t yet listed among Finma-approved institutes, likely because the license has yet to enter force. finews.asia was able to verify the backing. The fintech's assertive approach in communicating Bern’s nod is unconventional. A spokesman for the Swiss financial regulator didn’t comment on Saphirstein.
Launch In 2021
The three-year-old start-up is led by CEO Haoning Zhang, an ETH computer scientist who began his career at Avaloq and has also worked for UBS and Coutts private bank. Saphirstein aims to build a user-to-user payments network, Buechel said, as well as for merchants, via QR code. Specifically, it wants to build a payments bridge between clients in Asia and those in Europe, he added.
The start-up is presided by Yang Lan, also a former Coutts and UBS banker. Buechel is a 16-year veteran of the Swiss stock exchange’s financial data arm. The trio plan to launch the payment app, Fiat24, in late summer or early autumn, Buechel said.
Crypto Option
The Swiss fintech license, which caps deposits at 100 million Swiss francs ($112 million), is meant to allow start-ups to test their products and gauge client interest without a lengthy, full-blown regulatory process. Buechel told finews.asia Saphirstein doesn't expect to seek approval elsewhere, but is in contact with other regulators including China's.
Further out, Saphirstein’s goal is a full banking license, Buechel said. Besides the fiat payments, Saphirstein also plans to offer a bitcoin-based top-up function, which Finma is capping at 1,000 francs per user.
Chinese Backing
The start-up’s initial investors include China Merchant Bank’s international arm and Fenbushi, a Shanghai-based venture capital firm focused on blockchain investments, Buechel said. The company aims to raise more funds, to finance the hire of employees including compliance staff and software engineers to make the product reality.
Diem, another payments project backed by Facebook, is also pending regulatory approval in Switzerland. Formerly known as Libra, Diem filed a revised application last April as a payments system, through a Geneva-based association.
Finma has granted just one license – to aspiring digital bank Yapeal – since setting up the «sandbox» scheme 13 months ago. By contrast, Singapore's regulator in December backed four digital banks, from a short list of 14 candidates, as finews.asia reported.
