Today, the European Commission adopted the 2018 edition of the General Report.
According to the Commission, this fulfills its legal obligation under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The report shows how the EU is delivering on its commitments to Europeans. The Commission notes that the General Report also highlights that the Digital Single Market Strategy is “well on its way with agreement reached over the past year on 23 of the Commission’s 30 proposals.” This includes new initiatives like blockchain.
The Report, embedded below, mentions Fintech as part of its “fair digital ecosystem.”
“In March the Commission adopted an Action Plan on technology-enabled innovation in financial services (FinTech) to help the financial sector to make use of rapid advances in areas such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and cloud services. It seeks to make markets safer and easier to access, for the benefit of consumers, investors, banks and new market players alike. As a first major deliverable, the Commission proposed new rules to help crowdfunding platforms grow across the EU’s Single Market to improve access to funding, especially for start-ups and other small businesses. The rules will allow these platforms to apply for an EU label and offer their services across the EU, while investors will be protected by rules on information disclosure, governance, risk management and a coherent approach to supervision.”
Regarding securities crowdfunding, the Report calls crowdfunding, part of the Capital Markets Union (CMU), a first major deliverable as part of the Fintech Action Plan previously announced.
“As a first major deliverable, the Commission proposed new rules to help crowdfunding platforms grow across the EU’s Single Market to improve access to funding, especially for start-ups and other small businesses. The rules will allow these platforms to apply for an EU label and offer their services across the EU, while investors will be protected by rules on information disclosure, governance, risk management and a coherent approach to supervision.”
As for blockchain, a hot topic both within Europe and just about every other country, the Commission comments on their EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum, which was launched in February with the support of the European Parliament. It will “monitor developments and promote the role of European stakeholders in ‘blockchain’, technologies that store blocks of information which are distributed across the digital network.”
Much of the above is affiliated with the Fintech Action Plan and CMU. The proof will always be measured in actual action.
