The European Banking Authority (EBA) published on 15 March 2018 a FinTech Roadmap setting out its priorities for 2018/2019. The Roadmap also sets out the establishment of a FinTech Knowledge Hub to enhance knowledge sharing and foster technological neutrality in regulatory and supervisory approaches.
Taking account of the feedback to the EBA’s 2017 Discussion Paper on FinTech, and the new mandates for the EBA set out in the European Commission’s FinTech Action Plan, the EBA’s FinTech Roadmap describes its priorities for 2018/2019 and provides an indicative timeline for the completion of these tasks.
The priorities are:- monitoring the regulatory perimeter, including assessing current authorisation and licencing approaches to FinTech firms, and analysing regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs in order to identify a set of best practices to enhance consistency and facilitate supervisory coordination;
- monitoring emerging trends and analysing the impact on incumbent institutions’ business models and the prudential risks and opportunities arising from the use of FinTech,
- promoting best supervisory practices on assessing cybersecurity and promoting a common cyber threat testing framework;
- addressing consumer issues arising from FinTech, in particular in the areas of unclear regulatory status of FinTech firms and related disclosure to consumers, potential national barriers preventing FinTech firms from scaling up services to consumers across the single market, and the appropriateness of the current regulatory framework for virtual currencies;
- identifying and assessing money laundering/terrorist financing risks associated with regulated FinTech firms, technology providers and FinTech solutions.
In all of this work, the EBA will leverage knowledge and expertise in the EBA’s new FinTech Knowledge Hub. Andrea Enria, the EBA’s Chairperson, welcomed the developments stating, “The EBA’s Knowledge Hub will ensure that EU supervisors share best practices and adopt a technologically neutral approach to the application of new technologies in the financial sector. This will help facilitate innovation and scalability across the single market.”
In addition, the EBA will continue to engage in relevant international initiatives to promote supervisory and regulatory consistency in responding to new and borderless technologies.
Legal basis
Article 9(2) of the EBA’s Founding Regulation imposes a duty on the EBA to monitor new and existing financial activities. This obligation extends to all areas of the EBA’s competence, including in the field of activities of credit institutions, financial conglomerates, investment firms, payment institutions, and electronic money institutions. In this context, the EBA has published the FinTech Roadmap.
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