On 10 April 2019, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published two pieces of joint advice in response to requests made by the European Commission in its March 2018 FinTech Action Plan: Joint Advice on the need for legislative improvements relating to Information and Communication Technology risk management requirements in the EU … Continue Reading
On 19 March 2019, Consob (the Italian competent authority for the supervision on markets and listed companies) published a discussion document about initial coin offerings (ICOs) and crypto-assets exchanges (the “Document”), that may lead to the introduction of specific regulation in this field. The Document summarises the main items Consob is considering in the development … Continue Reading
On 5 April 2019, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its crypto-assets regulators directory. The purpose of the directory is to provide information on the relevant regulators and other authorities in FSB jurisdictions and international bodies who are dealing with crypto-asset issues, and the aspects covered by them. The directory will be delivered to the … Continue Reading
On 3 April 2019, the European Commission announced the launch of the International Association of Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA). Per the Commission’s announcement, the INATBA aims to bring together industry start-ups, small and medium enterprises, regulators and standard setting bodies to bring blockchain and distributed ledger technology into the mainstream. More than 100 organisations have … Continue Reading
On 13 March 2019, the Markets Committee and Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS committees) published a report on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The report follows work from the BIS committees on CBDCs in which they analysed the potential implications for payment systems, monetary policy implementation and … Continue Reading
On 13 March 2019, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel Committee) published a statement on crypto-assets. In recognition that crypto-assets do not reliably provide the standard functions of money and are unsafe to rely on as a medium of exchange or store of value, the Basel Committee’s statement sets out its prudential expectations related … Continue Reading
On 26 February 2019, the European Commission published the speech given by Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis (VD) at the 3rd Annual Afore Fintech Conference. VD begins his speech by covering the Commission’s Fintech Action Plan. Last year the Commission asked the European Supervisory Authorities to report on regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs in Member States. VD … Continue Reading
On 14 February 2019, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report on FinTech and market structure in financial services. The FSB defines FinTech as technology-enabled innovation in financial services that could result in new business models, applications, processes or products with an associated material effect on the provision of financial services. The report considers … Continue Reading
On 9 January 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its advice to the EU institutions (the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament) on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and crypto-assets. Prior to the publication of the advice ESMA has been working with Member State national competent authorities (NCAs) … Continue Reading
On 9 January 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report containing the results of its assessment of the applicability and suitability of EU law to crypto-assets. The report states that based on the analysis conducted by the EBA, crypto-assets typically fall outside the scope of EU financial services legislation and specific services relating … Continue Reading
On 7 January 2019, the Joint Committee of European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published a report on FinTech, concerning regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs (together, innovation facilitators). In the report, the ESAs analyse the innovation facilitators established to date within the EU. The ESAs also set out ‘best practices’ regarding the design and operation of innovation … Continue Reading
On 17 December 2018, the European Commission issued a press release concerning a coordinated plan prepared with Member States to foster the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe. The plan proposes joint actions for closer and more efficient cooperation between Member States, Norway, Switzerland and the Commission in four key areas: increasing … Continue Reading
On 4 December 2018, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel Committee) published a report which identifies, describes and compares the range of observed bank, regulatory and supervisory cyber-resilience practices across jurisdictions. For the purpose of the report, the Basel Committee uses the Financial Stability Board’s Cyber Lexicon definition of cyber-resilience, which defines it as … Continue Reading
On 3 December 2018, the European Central Bank (ECB) published its cyber resilience oversight expectations for financial market infrastructures (FMIs) (the Expectations). In June 2016, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published Guidance on cyber resilience for financial market infrastructures (Guidance). The Expectations provides FMIs … Continue Reading
The Italian financial services regulator, the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (Consob), has recently been in the news for suspending an initial coin offering (ICO) to the Italian public. The full text of the Consob resolution (no. 20660 dated 31 October 2018) is available in Italian here. Essentially, Consob held that the … Continue Reading
The ECB has published a speech by Benoît Coeuré, the Chair of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI). The speech is entitled The new frontier of payments and market infrastructure: on cryptos, cyber and CCPs. The slides that accompanied the speech have also been published. Key messages in the speech include: the G20 … Continue Reading
On 13 November 2018, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis issued a statement at the European Parliament Plenary on regulating virtual currencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In the statement, Mr Dombrovskis posts two questions for financial regulators to consider: Whether crypto-assets are financial instruments, and are therefore covered by financial regulation? Whether that regulation is … Continue Reading
On 12 November 2018, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published the first edition of a Cyber Lexicon, which comprises a set of approximately 50 core terms related to cyber security and cyber resilience in the financial sector. The lexicon is not intended for use in the legal interpretation of any international arrangement or agreement or … Continue Reading
On 19 October 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (the Stakeholders) own initiative report on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and crypto-assets. The report has been produced by the Stakeholders to advise ESMA on steps it can take to manage the risks of ICOs and crypto-assets on … Continue Reading
On 8 January 2018, the combined market capitalisation of crypto-assets peaked at an estimated $830 billion, of which approximately 35% was attributable to bitcoin. This dropped to just over $210 billion as of 4 October 2018. The rapid price increase in 2017 elicited interest from retail investors and attracted the attention of regulated financial institutions … Continue Reading
On 5 September 2018, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (comprised of ESMA, EBA and EOPA) published a report on the results of their monitoring exercise on ‘automation in financial advice’ (the Report). The Report follows the Joint Committee’s 2015 discussion paper on automation in financial advice, and their 2016 report on the … Continue Reading
In its role as a banking supervisor, the European Central Bank (ECB) asks the largest euro area banks to report significant cyber incidents as soon as they detect them. This helps the ECB identify and monitor trends in cyberattacks, which puts it in a position to be able to react more swiftly to a potential … Continue Reading
On 16 July 2018, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a report describing international work on crypto-assets. The report follows a letter that FSB Chair Mark Carney sent to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in March noting that crypto-assets raise a host of issues around consumer and investor protection, as well as … Continue Reading
On 9 July 2018, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary affairs published a study, Competition issues in the Area of Financial Technology (FinTech). The study focuses on analysing potential anti-competitive factors and their impact both in the FinTech ecosystem and in concrete services. In lieu of any consensus, the study proposes FinTech services … Continue Reading
