Digital currency exchange Coinbase has been granted an e-money license by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and joined the Faster Payments Scheme as an indirect member courtesy of a tie-up with Barclays Bank, reports Finextra. While other major lenders shy away from the cryptocurrency markets, Barclays Bank is the first to strike a deal with a major exchange, enabling the fast settlement of fiat money transfers to UK customers. Having won over the FCA, Coinbase plans to start with a pilot, giving a small number of institutional users access to Faster Payments before a roll out to all UK customers. Google is to ban advertising of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offering in an effort to protect consumers from scams, reports the FT. The blanket ban on "unregulated or speculative financial products" including cryptocurrencies comes into force in June. The price of bitcoin dropped more than five per cent (to US$8,700) after the announcement. Facebook instituted a similar ban in January. Singapore's OCBC Bank is setting up a dedicated artificial intelligence division, spending US$10 million over the next three years on a plan to drive the adoption of AI across banking services such as wealth advisory and loans financing, reports Finextra. It plans to develop "natural language processing" voice messaging services that can respond to customer queries, and facial recognition technology for use at bank branches and ATMs.