SUMMARY
The last two weeks has seen heightened activity relating to FinTech as the European Union grapples to understand the development of this disruptive sector and how it should be regulated. In the coming week we also have the next Article 29 Working Party ‘Fablab’ event which is covering ‘profiling’ and area of key interest for our industry. Busy times in Brussels (even without Brexit and Article 50!!)
KEY AREAS OF ACTIVITY
* EU CONSUMER FINANCIAL SERVICES ACTION PLAN PUBLISHED
On 23 March 2017, the European Commission published its Consumer Financial Services Action Plan, which follows the Commission’s Green Paper Consultation on Retail Financial Services conducted in 2016. In the Action Plan, the Commission outlines the list of policy actions it plans to undertake in the coming months regarding different aspects of retail financial services, including cross-border lending, creditworthiness assessment and other topics (ranging from motor insurance, to car rentals and digital financial services issues).
For BIIA the following actions announced in the Action Plan are the most relevant:
* Action 7:
The Commission will explore ways of facilitating access to loans across borders whilst ensuring a high level of consumer protection. In this context, the Commission will also consider ways of addressing in a more efficient manner consumer over-indebtedness linked to credit activities.
* Action 9:
The Commission will seek to introduce common creditworthiness assessment standards and principles for lending to consumers and work to develop a minimum set of data to be exchanged between credit registers in cross-border creditworthiness assessments.
According to the Commission’s schedule for execution of the Action Plan the Commission plans to implement both actions in the second half of 2018.
While at this stage it is not clear how exactly the Commission will proceed, it is expected that it will work closely with industry associations in implementing these actions, and our industry will most likely will be one of the Commission’s key interlocutors on these topics.
Link to the Action Plan: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52017DC0139&from=EN
Frequently Asked Questions: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-17-670_en.htm
* EU CONSULTATION ON FINTECH
On 23 March 2017, the European Commission launched a public consultation on “FinTech: a More Competitive and Innovative European Financial Sector”
The objective of the consultation is to collect stakeholders views on various aspects of FinTech, in order to inform the Commission’s attempts to create a comprehensive policy and regulatory approach on FinTech. This is the first time the Commission has consulted on this topic and the outcome of the consultation will be important as it will lay the ground for the future EU policy and regulatory approach to the subject, which for the moment has not yet been fully developed.
The Consultation consist of 48 questions under 4 main topics:
- Fostering access to financial services for consumers and business (including questions related to artificial intelligence, big data, automated financial advice, social media, matching platforms, sensor data analytics)
- Bringing down operational costs and increasing efficiency for the industry (including questions related to recording, storing and securing of data, disintermediating financial services, outsourcing)
- Making the single market more competitive by lowering barriers to entry (including questions related to FinTech’s contribution to removing such barriers)
- Balancing great data sharing and transparency with data security and protection needs (storing and sharing of financial information through a reliable tool, big data to lower information barriers for SMEs and other users, security, other potential applications of FinTech)
The deadline to respond to the consultation is 15 June 2017.
Responses should be submitted using the online questionnaire: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/fintech-2017
Link to the Consultation document: http://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2017-fintech-consultation-document_en_0.pdf
BIIA will be working with ACCIS to develop a response to the consultation.
* EU CONFERENCE ON FINTECH – 23 MARCH 2017, BRUSSELS
On 23 March 2017, in Brussels, the European Commission hosted a full-day conference on Financial Technology (FINTECH). The event included prominent speakers such as EU Commissioners and other senior Commission officials, Members of the European Parliament, representatives of national authorities and industry representatives.
The objective of the event was to hear stakeholders’ views on various aspects of FINTECH, and in particular opportunities and risks in this area, in order to inform the Commission’s work in preparing a comprehensive policy and regulatory approach FinTech.
Neil Munroe attended the conference on behalf of ACCIS and BIIA.
The agenda of the conference is available here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/web-2017-03-23-conference-programme_en.pdf
The video recording of the full conference is available here: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/conference-on-technological-innovation-in-finance-fintech
* EU PUBLIC HEARING ON CMU MID-TERM REVIEW – 11 APRIL 2017, BRUSSELS
On 11 April 2017, in Brussels, as part of its consultation on the EU Capital Markets Union Mid-Term Review, the European Commission will organise a public hearing on the Capital Markets Union Mid-Term Review.
The hearing will be opened by Valdis Dombrovskis, the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Capital Markets Union Action Plan. The hearing will include three thematic panels:
1) Promoting access to finance for SMEs
2) Better investment opportunities for retail and institutional investors
3) Improving the functioning of the single market by removing barriers to cross-border flow of capital
To register to the event, please use the following link: https://scic.ec.europa.eu/fmi/ezreg/FISMA-CMU-2017/start
* DATA PROTECTION EVENTS – WP29 FABLAB and EUROPEAN COMMISSION WORKSHOP – 5-6 APRIL 2017, BRUSSELS
On 5-6 April 2017, in Brussels, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29), a body representing the DP authorities of the 28 Member States, will organise a Workshop on Data Protection (“FABLAB”). The aim of the Fablab is to collect feedback and comments on three subjects related to the implementation of the GDPR:
o Profiling
o Consent
o Data breach notifications
The input received will feed into the guidelines that the WP29 has committed to publish in the first half of 2017. Therefore, the Fablab will be an important opportunity for BIIA to participate in the discussion and to contribute to create a clear legal framework for businesses.
On 6 April, right after the WP29 Fablab, the European Commission will organise a GDPR workshop with the objectives of presenting an overview of the steps taken by the Commission services in the run-up to the application of the GDPR in May 2018 and having a first exchange of views on the new Commission’s strategy on international data transfers.
At both events, BIIA will be represented by BIIA Board Director, Enrico Lodi. During the FABLAB, he will participate in and actively contribute to the session on profiling which is of key concern for our industry.
Regards
Neil
Neil Munroe, is Deputy Managing Director of BIIA and a member of the BIIA regulatory committee. He can be reached at: CRS Insights Ltd – e: neilm@crsinsights.com<mailto:neilm@crsinsights.com> – m: +44 (0) 7710 844518, p: +44 (0) 1923 284604
