Switzerland-based Libra Association has announced Saumya Bhavsar as the general counsel for its payment subsidiary, Libra Networks. Bhavsar is joining Libra after having decades of experience in the banking and public sector, including eight years at the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Libra Association described Bhavsar as “a skilled industry leader with experience shaping and managing global and regional financial services organizations through periods of significant strategic change.
The former OCC exec is tasked with navigating regulatory issues.
In her new role as the lead counsel at Libra Networks, Bhavsar now faces the Herculean task of navigating Libra Networks through the regulatory requirements that have impeded its growth for over a year. Libra Networks is a subsidiary of the Libra Association and is in charge of Facebook’s Libra payment system. Since its announcement in June 2019, Facebook has faced ceaseless opposition, especially from regulators for its stablecoin project. The Libra Association has made several changes to Libra’s white paper, but it still has not won over all regulators.
Libra’s trimmed-down version is expected to be launched in January 2021.
As reported earlier, the long-awaited stablecoin Libra could finally see the light of day as soon as January 2021. After facing regulatory scrutiny from all around the world for more than a year, Libra will finally launch in the form of a United States dollar-backed digital currency. The exact launch date of Libra is still not known, but it would depend on when the Libra Association receives regulatory approval by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, to operate as a payments service.
However, the launch is expected to happen in January next year. Libra Association is still seeking the green light from Switzerland’s markets watchdog to issue a series of stablecoins backed by individual traditional currencies.
