Practice area
Fractional compliance support
Authorisation files, AML programmes, the Travel Rule and the regulator's questions, run for crypto-asset and other financial firms by one practice, for the days the work needs rather than a full-time team.
What the work is#
Building an authorisation or registration file
A MiCA application, or membership of a Swiss self-regulatory organisation. The practice runs the timetable, gathers the documents, drafts the policies and procedures, and keeps the evidence behind every answer, so the file is complete when it goes in.
How an application runs→AML programmes and the Travel Rule
The risk assessment, the policies, the screening and monitoring set-up, and the Travel Rule connection, tested with counterparties. Then preparation for the AML audit: the evidence gathered and a dry run before the auditor arrives.
The Travel Rule, in the primary law→Dealing with the regulator
On an application and in supervision: the questions, the meetings, the information requests and the remediation plans, each answered with its evidence. In Switzerland and the EU.
Supervised by whom→After authorisation
Keeping the file current, running the periodic reviews, preparing the notifications a change requires, and tracking new rules against the firm's position as they are made.
The record of what changed→Classifying a token
Classifying a token under Swiss and EU rules, worked from how the token is actually used. Where a bank, exchange or other third party needs a formal legal opinion, that comes from a lawyer.
The token sort→External AML officer
Acting as the external AML officer for a member of a Swiss self-regulatory organisation, on terms agreed at scoping. If this bears on a firm you work with, a short note sets out how it works.
Start a conversation→An authorisation file takes months to build. MiCA fixes only the regulator's clocks: 25 working days to check that an application is complete, and 40 to decide, with pauses for questions. No authority measures the work before submission.
How a mandate grows#
Every mandate starts at the simplest level that does the job. It moves up when greater risk or complexity is present or expected, usually at scoping or when the work reaches a new phase, and back down when that part is done. Each move is agreed with you.
Level 0 · Scoping
What the business needs, worked out from how it actually runs: its owners, its model and its timetable. The work is sized to that, and kept as simple as the business allows.
Level 1 · The practice
The practice does the work. A mandate starts here unless scoping shows a reason not to.
Level 2 · Checked
The practice does the work; a partner firm* reviews it at agreed points.
Level 3 · Partner leads
A partner firm* leads the part that needs a lawyer; the practice keeps running the file.
Where a lawyer is usually brought in *
- FINMA licence applications. The law does not require a lawyer, but their complexity usually makes specialist support the more effective route; the practice runs the file alongside
- A formal legal opinion, where a bank, exchange or other third party requires one
- Tax: rulings, reporting and structuring
- Enforcement and contested matters, before a regulator or a court
What you end up holding#
- An application file that is complete when it is submitted, with the evidence behind every answer
- An AML programme that has been built and tested, not only written down
- A record of every question from the regulator, with the answer given and its evidence
- One practice holding the file from the first document to supervision
How it is priced#
The price follows the scope: a monthly allocation of days, agreed in writing before work starts and reviewed with you as the work moves. It does not change without your agreement.
Fractional support builds and runs the file. Under MiCA, a part-time or outside holder of a key role, such as the AML officer, can draw an objection. Why
Where to look yourself#
The official sources this work runs on. All free, all published by the body that made the record.
* A partner law firm, or another specialist such as an insurer, is usually brought in where greater risk or complexity is present or expected. That normally shows at scoping, or when the work reaches a new phase, and is decided with you case by case. A partner firm gives any legal or tax advice; probative.io does not. Who is involved, what each does and the terms are set out in writing before that work starts. Referrals in either direction, and any payment involved, are disclosed.
probative.io is a research and investigations practice, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. This page describes the work the practice does and the sources it uses. It states no view on any particular matter, and nothing here should be read as advice on one.