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The Bank of Ghana has launched a new regulatory and innovation sandbox to provide a controlled testing environment for new financial products and services, in partnership with US-based technology firm Emtech. Emtech has built cloud-based software specifically for central banks. It said the sandbox would allow financial firms to interact with the central bank to test digital financial products while evolving [an] enabling regulatory environment. The sandbox is open to banks, specialised deposit-taking institutions and payment service providers. https://www.bog.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/PRESS-RELEASE-BANK-OF-GHANA-SANDBOX-PILOT.pdf

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced three enhancements to its FinTech Regulatory Sandbox framework to further catalyze financial innovation and FinTech adoption. Eligibility criteria will be expanded beyond first movers to include early adopters of technology innovation, the application process for financial grants will be streamlined, and there will be a "Deal Fridays" to help sandbox companies access the external investor community, to benefit from the network, mentorship, and funding.

Using unique data for the UK, this BIS paper provides initial evidence on the effectiveness of the world's first sandbox in improving fintechs' access to finance. Firms entering the sandbox see a 15% increase in capital raised post-entry, relative to firms that did not enter; and their probability of raising capital increases by 50%. The results furthermore suggest that the sandbox facilitates access to capital through two channels: reduced asymmetric information and reduced regulatory costs or uncertainty.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) launched its stablecoin issuer sandbox. Tying in with the consultation on the legislative proposal for implementing the regulatory regime for stablecoin issuers, the HKMA wishes to leverage the sandbox arrangement to communicate supervisory expectations to parties interested in issuing fiat-referenced stablecoins in Hong Kong, as well as to obtain feedback from participants on the proposed regulatory requirements. The list of participants of the sandbox arrangement will be available on the HKMA website. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2022/01/20220112-3/

On March 17, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin introduced a new bill allowing for the creation of regulatory sandboxes. The sandboxes would be overseen by the country's central bank.

On 14th January 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (the "CBN") released the long-awaited final framework for regulatory sandbox operations in Nigeria (the "Framework"). This Framework comes barely 7 (seven) months after the CBN released an exposure draft framework for regulatory sandbox operations in Nigeria (the "Draft"), on 23rd June 2020. Just like in the Draft, the CBN in this Framework emphasises its commitment to building a financial services sector that actively promotes innovation, effective service delivery, healthy competition, and financial inclusion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released new guidelines for quick response code (QR) payments and a regulatory sandbox. The sandbox will provide firms with a central bank-supervised environment to test new financial products and services. The new QR code framework will promote the use of electronic payments. https://www.cbn.gov.ng/Out/2021/CCD/FRAMEWORK%20FOR%20QUICK%20RESPONSE%20(QR)%20CODE%20PAYMENTS%20IN%20NIGERIA.pdf https://www.cbn.gov.ng/Out/2021/CCD/FRAMEWORK%20FOR%20REGULATORY%20SANDBOX%20OPERATIONS.pdf

The European Commission in collaboration with the 30-country alliance called the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) plans to launch a pan-European blockchain regulatory sandbox by 2022. The European Commission will work with EBP on the sandbox to test use cases of blockchain and digital assets in the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). The EBSI aims to deliver cross-border digital public services across the EU using blockchain technology. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/legal-and-regulatory-framework-blockchain

Since its first cohort in 2016, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Regulatory Sandbox has supported 14 digital ID models. Also, there have been 15 applications for Direct Support to the FCA Innovation Hub and 6 of these are now receiving that support. Many other digital ID providers have engaged with the FCA through various channels such as the Anti-Money Laundering TechSprints. The FCA, in collaboration with The City of London, has also recently completed a pilot Digital Sandbox, which provides data access and a digital testing environment to help innovative businesses develop proof of concept. Two digital ID propositions participated in the pilot.

"Emtech's digital regulatory platform includes the innovator's center, which helps fintechs to prepare and test the requirements for multiple regulators and/or countries and test regulatory reporting APIs for pre-market technical integration, as well as the regulatory sandbox, a fintech launchpad based on regulator limits and the live reporting of data. The sandbox helps the regulatory authorities base their response to innovations on the outcomes of live experiments."

SWIFT announced further progress on its experimental solution for interlinking central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), reporting that 18 central and commercial banks found "clear potential and value" in the API-based CBDC connector after a comprehensive review. SWIFT published the findings of the 12-week period of collaborative sandbox testing, in which almost 5,000 transactions were simulated between two different blockchain networks and with existing fiat-based payment systems. Sandbox participants included the Banque de France, the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, NatWest, Royal Bank of Canada, SMBC, Société Générale, Standard Chartered and UBS. Over the coming months SWIFT will develop a beta version of the solution for payments that can be tested further by central banks. A second phase of sandbox testing will also be held, in which the SWIFT community can collaborate further with a focus on new use cases.

The paper presents data on regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs and argues that the data so far available does not justify the statement that regulatory sandboxes are the most effective approach to building FinTech ecosystems.

The Jamaican central bank announced FinTech Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines. The objectives "are to provide a platform to encourage innovations in financial services, promote competition and promote financial inclusion. In the initial phase, Regulated Entities and Fintech companies in partnership with Deposit Taking Institutions for delivery of payment services or such other financial services will be allowed to operate in the Sandbox to promote innovation.

Nahmii AS, a Norwegian software company, announced that, as part of its ongoing work with Norges Bank, it's making the source code for the central bank's CBDC sandbox publicly available. Nahmii's work is focusing on defining and commissioning a sandbox production environment with open sourced services to allow for the testing of basic token management use cases, including minting, burning and transferring ERC-20 tokens. (Nahmii is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling protocol.)

SAMA Updates Its Regulatory Sandbox Framework to Drive Innovation The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) updated its Regulatory Sandbox framework as part of its efforts to achieve the national strategic goals in the Saudi Vision 2030 Financial Sector Development Programme. The updated framework will also support the objectives of the fintech strategy and contribute to the economic empowerment of the Saudi society and its citizens by promoting further Fintech innovations.

The United Nations has published a sandbox framework that maps out the steps and key elements for the designing and operationalizing central bank digital currency (CBDC). First a proof of concept (PoC) is used as part of the selection process for the CBDC issuing system, and then the sandbox is used to test the basic capabilities of the platform to issue CBDC securely. Then banks and other payment service providers (PSPs) are brought in to test settlement functions. When key criteria have been met, then the CBDC can be released for pilots with real CBDC for use with selected groups of users, merchants, and other stakeholders.

The Reserve Bank of India published its draft framework for its regulatory sandbox that may include blockchain startups and tools, but explicitly excludes crypto-related projects.

In April, the GFIN global sandbox jointly run by 35 international regulators accepted its first eight firms into the program. The UK FCA said 44 applications were submitted. The eight successful firms will now develop plans for their cross-border trials, before being allowed to undertake tests. The firms that have successfully entered the testing stage will be announced in June.

"The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has selected 18 companies to form the second batch of ventures to join its fintech regulatory sandbox. The companies will be testing fintech solutions they intend to launch in the country."

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today launched Sandbox Express to provide firms with a faster option to test innovative financial products and services in the market.