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19.09.19 15 FOREIGN NEWS ADAM Farkas has announced his resignation from his post as Executive Director of the European Banking Au- thority (EBA), which will be effective on 31 January 2020. e EBA's Board of Supervisors (BoS) has conducted an assessment of the po- tential conflict of interest arising from Farkas' proposed future employment at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME). In compliance with the EBA staff reg- ulations and ethics rules, the BoS has decided that Farkas will no longer participate in the EBA's policy and supervisory work and will focus exclusively on operational mat- ters until 31 October 2019. For the re- mainder of his notice period, his duties will be reallocated until 31 January 2020. e BoS has also decided to apply con- ditions on his future employment. Farkas cannot engage in lob- bying or advocacy of the EBA, or have professional contacts with EBA staff, for 24 months after leav- ing the Authority. Farkas cannot advise his new organisation's members or oth- erwise contribute to the activities of his new organisation on topics directly linked to the work he carried out dur- ing his last three years of service for 18 months after leaving the EBA. José Manuel Campa, EBA Chairper- son praised the contribution Adam Far- kas has made in building up the EBA from its creation in 2011, ensuring its smooth and sound operation as it grew, and throughout its move in June 2019 from London, UK to its new seat in Par- is, France. Farkas was appointed as first Execu- tive Director of the EBA in 2011 and his mandate was renewed in 2015 for an- other five-year term. e EBA said it will soon start the recruitment pro- cess of a new Executive Director. MEP Sven Gieg- old, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group said the conditions imposed by the Eu- ropean Banking Au- thority on Farkas' change of employer were only a drop in the ocean. He said that the weak conditions do not solve the fundamental problem of the conflict of interest. "e crucial point is not whether Far- kas lobbies the banking supervisor, but whether his insider knowledge goes directly to the banking lobby. Farkas interruption-free change damages the reputation of the banking supervisor. Instead of weak conditions, we need binding cool-off periods for sensitive posts in EU agencies," Giegold said. "A cool-off period of 24 months would make sense. It is an invitation to ignore the reality when each agency has its own rules." Giegold said that if the rules do not effectively prevent conflicts of interest, they need to be changed. "When the European Parliament gives its annual discharge to EBA, we will raise the Farkas case. Conflicts of in- terest in EU agencies should be on the agenda of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs," he said. "We need an independent EU ethics authority to avoid such conflicts of in- terest. e Farkas case must be a wake- up call for European politics." Adam Farkas steps down as EBA Executive Director MEP insists issues on conflict of interest not resolved MEP Sven Giegold Adam Farkas was appointed as first Executive Director of the EBA in 2011 BINANCE, one of the largest crypto ex- changes in terms of trade volume, has invested in Chinese crypto media and data sourcing company Mars Finance, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. ough the amount of the involved capital is not disclosed, this strategic investment has reportedly valued the firm at $200 million, making it one of the largest cryptocurrency media and data platform on the globe. Apart from Binance, the Chinese com- pany also received funds from Ceyuan Ventures and Matrixport, the financial startup setup by Bitmain's co-founder Wu Jihan, in the recent financing round. ough operating in almost every na- tion on the globe, Binance cannot offer its services to Chinese investors. Simi- lar to every digital currency exchange in China, Binance also was put out of business in the country in late 2017 due to the ban on the crypto exchanges by the Chinese government. According to the report, this is the first investment of the Malta-registered crypto exchange in a Chinese cryp- to-related company. Founded in 2018, by local entrepre- neur Wang Feng, Binance turned a be- hemoth from a nascent local crypto-fo- cused media due to the high demand in the region. It also received funds in two earlier rounds from IDG Capital, along with the venture arms of OKEx and Huobi, Bloomberg detailed. e company also runs its own ven- ture fund – Consensus Lab – and in- vested in over 50 startups. Meanwhile, Binance is focused to be the largest crypto exchange worldwide and is entering into every possible sec- tor related to crypto. Started as a cryp- to-to-crypto spot trading exchange, the company is now expanding into margin and futures trading as well. e exchange also aiming to launch its dedicated crypto-fiat trading platform in the US in collaboration with a local partner, after shutting down access to its main site in the country. Binance debuts investment in China with crypto media firm Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao

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