Nia Labs

Module 2 of 4ESG and Regulation

Which regime applies, who enforces it, and what it actually requires. Then the harder part: a classification and a business decision you could defend to a regulator two years later.

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  • 3 sessions
  • About 5 hours
  • Intermediate
  • Online or in person

Outcomes

By the end of the module, you can

  1. Name which regime applies to a digital asset activity, which body enforces it and what it requires.
  2. Place ESG disclosure duties alongside prudential and conduct rules, not apart from them.
  3. Work an asset through Howey and the 17 March 2026 US joint taxonomy.
  4. Explain why one asset can attract different answers in the UK, US and Singapore.
  5. Reach a Launch, Restrict or Reject decision and evidence it for audit.
  6. Turn a restriction into a control with a named owner, system and date.

Sessions

Two sessions to build it. One lab to use it.

Session 1120 minutes, virtual-live

The global regulatory landscape

A working map of who regulates what, and why regulation is now the binding constraint on digital asset business.

  1. Four regulatory postures and where your institution sits
  2. FCA, SEC and CFTC, MAS, FATF and Basel
  3. ESG as a regulatory driver: energy, disclosure, greenwashing
  4. Compliance strategies inside the bank
  5. Guided practice: match regulation to scenario
  6. Commitments and preview
Session 2120 minutes, virtual-live

Legal implications and classification

From the map to the decision: cross-border exposure, security or commodity, and how the call is evidenced.

  1. Extraterritoriality, conflict of laws, enforcement reach
  2. Security or commodity: Howey and the 2026 taxonomy
  3. Classification and ESG disclosure in practice
  4. Launch, restrict or reject, and how to evidence it
  5. Guided classification exercise
  6. Commitments and lab preview
Session 360 minutes, virtual lab

Application lab: the VERDE decision

One asset, three requests, three jurisdictions. Teams decide, then defend.

  1. Brief and team set-up
  2. Phase 1: analyse the asset
  3. Phase 2: determine classification
  4. Phase 3: decide and defend
  5. Debrief and module close

Lab spotlight

The VERDE decision

Meridian asks the bank to distribute its VERDE token through the bank's UK entity, to hold it in custody, and to bank the issuer. VERDE is marketed as sustainability-aligned and backed by voluntary carbon credits. The file is complete, consistent and professionally presented. Nothing in it is a lie.

  • Launch
  • Restrict
  • Reject

What teams do

  • Work a six-tab toolkit: asset dossier, issuer profile, jurisdiction briefing and three worksheets.
  • Log the facts that change the answer, and separate them from facts that are merely present.
  • Build a classification matrix for the US, UK, Singapore and the FATF and ESG overlay.
  • Decide each request separately, with conditions that each carry an owner, a system and a date.
  • Take a late fact mid-phase, then present in ninety seconds and face one challenge.
The VERDE decision screen: three requests, each with Launch, Restrict and Reject options
Deciding VERDE's three requests in the public taster. The full lab adds the classification matrix and a written decision note.

Four roles per team

  • Compliance LeadOwns the classification call and the final recommendation.
  • Jurisdiction AnalystWorks the UK, US and Singapore positions and where they conflict.
  • ESG AnalystTests every sustainability claim and the settlement-layer profile.
  • Scribe and PresenterCompletes the decision note and presents it.

What the debrief draws out

  • Sequence the assessment: a licensing question can end it before classification begins.
  • Classification follows the activity.
  • A restriction is only real once someone builds it into a system by a date.
  • A sustainability claim the bank repeats is the bank's claim.

Who it is for

A cross-functional room, on purpose.

No coding background needed. The module works best with Risk, Compliance, Audit and Technology in the same breakout.

Compliance, legal and regulatory affairs

Teams who must place new activity inside the perimeter and keep a forward calendar.

ESG and product governance

Owners of sustainability claims in product documents and client materials.

Business and product heads

Leaders proposing distribution, custody or banking for digital asset clients.

Run this module alone, or as part of the programme.

The brochure covers all four modules, the labs, the three formats and the facilitator.

Download the brochure Enquire about this module