On 26 July 2019, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a letter from its president, Mario Draghi, to Markus Ferber MEP. In the letter Mr Draghi discusses how the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is closely monitoring innovation in the financial sector, including stablecoin projects such as Facebook’s ‘Libra’. The ESCB also contributes to … Continue Reading
On 18 July 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report illustrating the findings of an analysis on issues relating to access to the market for FinTech firms. The analysis focused on the monitoring of national developments on the regulatory perimeter; the national regulatory status of FinTech firms; and the approaches followed by Member … Continue Reading
On 12 July 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a report on the status of licencing regimes of FinTech firms across the EU. The report is based on two surveys conducted by ESMA since January 2018, which gathered evidence from Member State national competent authorities (NCAs) on the licencing regimes of FinTech … Continue Reading
The European Banking Association (EBA) has published a report titled “The Impact of Fintech on Payment Institutions’ and E-Money Institutions’ business models” (the Report). The Report acknowledges the significant changes that have taken place in the broader Fintech landscape over the last few years, focussing on the Payment Institution (PI) and E-Money Institution (EMI) space. … Continue Reading
On 8 July 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a thematic report on the impact of FinTech on payment institutions’ (PIs) and electronic money institutions’ (EMIs) business models. Key points in the report include: the payments landscape in the EU is undergoing significant transformation due to the introduction of the revised Payment Services Directive … Continue Reading
On 30 June 2019, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) approved the establishment of an innovation hub to foster international collaboration on innovative financial technology within the central banking community. The role of the hub will be to identify and develop in-depth insights into critical trends in technology affecting central banking: develop public goods in … Continue Reading
On 6 June 2019, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report considering the implications of decentralised financial technologies. The report considers the financial stability, regulatory and governance implications of the use of decentralised financial technologies such as those involving distributed ledgers and online peer-to-peer, or user-matching, platforms. The report focuses on technologies that may … Continue Reading
On 30 May 2019, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a press release following its meeting this month in which priority issues facing securities market regulators and supervisors were discussed. The priority issues include: crypto-assets. IOSCO will be publishing a consultation report on crypto-asset trading platforms, in response to a G20 request. IOSCO … Continue Reading
On 31 May 2019, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report on crypto-assets, which considers work underway, regulatory approaches and potential gaps. The report is being delivered to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors for their meeting in Fukuoka on 8-9 June. International organisations are working on a number of fronts, directly addressing … Continue Reading
On 28 May 2019 the International Organization for Securities Commission (IOSCO) published a consultation paper on Issues, Risks and Regulatory Considerations Relating to Crypto-Asset Trading Platforms. Prepared by IOSCO’s Committee 2 on the Regulation of Secondary Markets, the consultation paper seeks stakeholder views in order to help IOSCO members evaluate the issues and risks relating … Continue Reading
On 28 May 2019, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a progress report on its work todate on developing effective practices for financial institutions’ response to, and recovery from, a cyber incident. As part of its work programme to enhance the cyber resilience of financial institutions, the FSB is developing a toolkit of effective practices … Continue Reading
Partners from our global FinTech team flew in from Hong Kong, Vancouver, London and Dallas to join our New York team to attend Consensus and Blockchain week in NYC (13-15 May). Consensus is an annual global conference which brings together the world’s most innovative minds to explore and debate the future of blockchain and crypto. … Continue Reading
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
