Austria’s financial regulator has ordered KuCoin’s European arm to stop taking on new business after the crypto exchange lost key compliance staff in the months following the firm getting a green light to operate under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime, CoinDesk reported.

The Financial Market Authority (FMA) said KuCoin EU no longer has designated key function holders responsible for anti-money-laundering (AML) and counterterrorism-financing controls. The ban is expected to stay in place until the firm fills the positions, including an AML officer and deputy, as well as a sanctions-compliance officer and deputy, the news outlet said. 

“The effective staffing of these key functions is a prerequisite for the orderly conduct of business,” the FMA said in a statement. The regulator said KuCoin EU is “prohibited with immediate effect” from establishing new customer relationships and from entering new contracts or launching new products within existing customer relationships until the key roles are filled.

KuCoin will fill the positions as part of an expansion of its compliance team in Austria, CoinDesk said. Sabina Liu, managing director of KuCoin EU, said the company’s priority is to establish a governance AML framework aligned with European regulatory expectations and its responsibilities to the EU market, and that it is investing in experienced local compliance professionals, according to the report. 

Read more at CoinDesk

Read more at Austria’s FMA