FEATURES AND ADVICE
prnewswire | April 25, 2023
Notabene has published its second comprehensive State of Crypto Travel Rule Compliance Report, which provides insightful results from their 2023 global Travel Rule compliance survey. This report follows the successful inaugural report, which provided the industry's first-ever comprehensive analysis of Travel Rule compliance.
"This year's report highlights that Travel Rule compliance is becoming increasingly global, with nearly a quarter (23%) of the surveyed companies needing to comply with Travel Rule requirements in more than one jurisdiction. These findings suggest that the Travel Rule is becoming more global in nature, underscoring the need for a solution to the common cross-border challenges posed by the Travel Rule," says CEO Pelle Braendgaard.
The State of Travel Rule report includes survey results from financial institutions and crypto companies worldwide on how prepared they are for upcoming regulatory deadlines. Sixty-nine companies completed the survey, representing broad global coverage.
The report includes real-world feedback on differences in Travel Rule adoption across jurisdictions, approaches to implementation, components of compliance, and summarizes adoption pitfalls. Key findings show that 84% of companies are already complying or plan to by the end of 2023, and 75% of respondents impose some restrictions on transactions with self-hosted wallets. The report also found that of those who comply, 37.5% perform the travel rule post-transaction, not fulfilling today's FATF requirements.
"Our global and diverse respondents have reinforced the global nature and the various levels of Travel Rule compliance." says Lana Schwartzman, Head of Regulatory and Compliance at Notabene. "VASPs are asking for a unified and interoperable global approach for reaching their counterparties and transmitting Travel Rule messages. As a result, regulators must work together with industry to develop a unified approach to Travel Rule compliance that addresses the needs of the entire industry. We are already seeing this in the EU and UK and hope other regions will follow."
This year's report includes a comprehensive illustration of the current global state of Travel Rule adoption, showcasing key information regarding jurisdictional enforcement, including information on the enforcement status of each jurisdiction, as well as the threshold amount and self-hosted wallet obligations. This information is crucial for businesses seeking to comply with the Travel Rule.
About Notabene
Notabene is crypto's only pre-transaction decision making platform. We enable customers to identify and stop high-risk activity before it occurs.
Notabene's SafeTransact platform helps financial institutions and crypto businesses unlock their full potential in the digital economy. With a focus on security, privacy, and end-user experience, Notabene customers can use our multi-source data and software to automate real-time decision-making, perform counterparty sanctions screening, identify self-hosted wallets, and complete the smooth roll out of Travel Rule compliance, all in line with global and local regulations.
Notabene is SOC-2 security certified since 2021. Over 85 companies leverage our software to manage real-time regulatory and counterparty risk in virtual asset transactions, including Copper, Luno, Crypto.com and Bitstamp. Headquartered in New York, Notabene is a global company with presence in Switzerland, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
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DESTINATION AND TOURISM
prnewswire | April 05, 2023
Bonotel Exclusive Travel, the leading aggregator and wholesale distributor of both branded and boutique luxury hotel rooms, has announced plans to expand its hotel offerings. Beginning today, the company will sell luxury hotels out of the Middle East. More than 80 hotels and resorts will be offered to global clients in the first portion of the launch, including such iconic five-star luxury properties as Atlantis, The Palm, Raffles Hotels, Waldorf Astoria and more.
"For more than a quarter century, we've worked to refine our portfolio to include most of the world's finest hotels," said Simon Brooks, Bonotel President. "We believe that there is great opportunity for continued growth in the exclusive luxury travel sector, and we will look to expand with more content in the coming weeks."
Bonotel, which has a longstanding base of international business-to-business clients, has substantially increased its footprint around the world. Brooks expects that the company's portfolio will continue to grow over time.
Bonotel is known for its wide variety of services and high standards. Clients can book show reservations, golf tee times, limousine transfers and tickets to sporting events and Disney theme parks, as well as many other luxury and custom services.
About Bonotel Exclusive Travel
Founded in 1991, Bonotel Exclusive Travel, part of Travel Leaders Group, a division of Internova Travel Group, is a leading inbound marketing and distribution partner of both branded and boutique luxury hotel rooms to a longstanding base of international B2B clients. The Company works with a network of more than 28,000 hotel partners and provides seamless electronic distribution to more than 1,200 international tour operators through the Company's IT platform.
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BUSINESS TRAVEL
prnewswire | March 24, 2023
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the Saudi-based Sustainable Tourism Global Center have unveiled groundbreaking new data detailing the total water usage of the global Travel & Tourism sector.
In one of the largest research projects of its kind, WTTC can for the first time ever, accurately report and track the impact the sector has on the environment.
The findings were launched today at the United Nations in New York at the UN 2023 Water Conference.
Direct Water Use
Speaking at the UN Headquarters, Chris Imbsen, Director of Sustainability at WTTC, revealed that Travel & Tourism's entire water footprint is just 0.6% of the global water use according to the latest figures (2021).
In 2019, when the sector was at its peak, the sector's total water footprint was only 50% higher, but still less than 1% of the global total at 0.9%.
Travel & Tourism's direct water use is significantly lower – in 2019 it was 0.2% of the global total and has fallen by half to just 0.1% of the global total.
Much of the sector's water use is indirect, through its supply chain, with agriculture and food production accounting for two-thirds of Travel & Tourism's entire water footprint.
Between 2010 and 2019, the Travel & Tourism sector in Europe and Africa reduced direct water use. In Europe, direct water use fell by 8% and in Africa, direct water use by the sector fell by 6%.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: "This ground-breaking new data reveals our sector's water consumption for the first time ever, revealing that Travel & Tourism uses less than 1% of the water used around the world, with the overwhelming majority of that usage coming from the sector's supply chain.
"The data also shows that whilst the sector has grown economically around the world, its direct-use water intensity has decreased.
"The data is the most in depth study of the sector's water use, and like the world-first climate footprint data we released at our Global Summit in Riyadh last year, we can also reveal individual countries' Travel & Tourism sector's water footprints. This will enable governments to work with the sector to further reduce water usage."
Water Intensity
The water intensity of Travel & Tourism per unit of GDP has also fallen since 2010, across both direct and indirect use.
In 2010, the sector used 0.57m³ of water for every $1 contributed to the global economy. In 2019 this fell by 19% to reach 0.46m³ of water for every $1 contributed to the global economy.
In a world-first, this comprehensive research covers 185 countries across all regions and will be updated each year with revised figures.
This research was made possible thanks to the partnership between WTTC and the Saudi-based Sustainable Tourism Global Center. Under the Saudi green Initiative, more than 60 initiatives have been launched in the past year, representing more than $186 billion of investment in the green economy.
About the World Travel & Tourism Council
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) represents the global travel & tourism private sector. Members include 200 CEOs, Chairs and Presidents of the world's leading travel & tourism companies from all geographies covering all industries. For more than 30 years, WTTC has been committed to raising the awareness of governments and the public of the economic and social significance of the travel & tourism sector.
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