Archive:November 13, 2017

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FCA’s New Consumer Consultation
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IMF Views on FinTech

FCA’s New Consumer Consultation

By Jonathan Lawrence

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a new consultation entitled Our Future Approach to Consumers. In the accompanying paper, the FCA recognises that FinTech is bringing new firms into the market and developing far more efficient ways for consumers to save, borrow and invest. The FCA must strike a balance between promoting better outcomes for consumers while not compromising on consumer protection or the standards expected from firms. The FCA also need to set frameworks that ensure markets work well. An example is the New Bank Start-up Unit, run jointly by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the FCA. This Unit provides new banks with the information and materials they need to navigate the process of becoming a bank, and tailored supervisory resource during the early years post-authorisation. Since its launch in January 2016, the Unit has helped ten applicants gain authorisation with a range of products, from mobile-only and technology-driven to a new clearing bank, and many new banks have been authorised.

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IMF Views on FinTech

By Jonathan Lawrence

In a speech in New York on 1 November, Dong He, Deputy Director, Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) talked about three main themes:

  • the economic framework on how FinTech applications will affect financial services and the market structure;
  • the current landscape of cross-border payments, and the possible evolution of cross-border payment systems; and
  • the role of central banks, themselves, and the possible reasons for them to issue their own digital currencies.

Mr He’s speech was based on two IMF staff discussion notes, Virtual Currencies and Beyond: Initial Considerations and Fintech and Financial Services: Initial Considerations.

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