The European Commission has reportedly set up an internal task force that is focused on financial technology (aka fintech). While sharing details about the group, Roberto Viola, director general for DG Connect and Olivier Guersent, director general DG Financial Stability, revealed in a press release the key interest in fintech:
“Fintech is often used to describe technology-enabled finance, be it payments, lending, raising capital and investment management, foreign exchange and money transfer, and robot advisers. It also includes InsurTech, the application of digital technology to insurance, and RegTech, its application to regulatory compliance. The Fintech revolution as we are experiencing it right now really is the result of a confluence of technological developments that have come to the market. They are ranging from continuing increase in processing and storage capacity, cloud computing, social network and platform technologies, artificial intelligence, mobile technologies or distributed ledger technology or blockchain which is high on the agenda of the whole sector.”
Viola and Guersent revealed the task force will be co-chaired by DG FISMA and DG Connect and will bring together services responsible for financial regulation and for the digital single market, along with other dealings with competition and consumer protection policy. They noted that the group will further engage outside experts and stakeholders to formulated policy-oriented recommendations and propose measures for the next year. They added:
“More changes are on their way with the advent of new agile innovative players with new business models, user-friendly consumer interfaces, peer to peer services, or advanced automated tools.”