FinTech Industry & Regulation – Page 21 – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Global Market announce Memorandum of Understanding

Oct 06 2017

On 25 September, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial centre (IFC) in Abu Dhabi, via its Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB). The aim of the MoU is to seek opportunities to collaborate and consult on initiatives to promote the growth and development of the FinTech ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under its terms, ADIB will partner with the FSRA across a range of Islamic-compliant FinTech-related initiatives. This partnership adds to ADGM’s FinTech commitment through the Abu Dhabi Regulatory Laboratory (RegLab) — a regulatory framework that offers a controlled environment for FinTech innovators to develop and test their products and services with the regulator.

FinTech in Taiwan: Regulatory Efforts and the Need for Speed

Oct 03 2017

By Joseph P.Y. Tseng

To encourage financial services industry and the related industry to apply innovative technology for enhancing financial accessibility, practicability, and quality, on May 4, 2017, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan proposed the bill called “Financial Technology Innovation Experimentation Act” (the “Bill”) to create its version of “regulatory sandbox.” It would enable experimenting innovative financial technology within a well-defined space and duration under relaxed legal requirements.

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FCA’s Hong Kong Hat Trick of FinTech Cooperation Agreements

Sep 25 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has completed a hat trick of FinTech cooperation agreements with Hong Kong regulators by signing an agreement with the Hong Kong Insurance Authority (IA). This adds to those agreements already signed by the FCA with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) on which we have blogged in previous posts.

Contributions to European Commission Public Consultation on FinTech

Sep 25 2017

By Giovanni Campi and Ignasi Guardans

The European Commission (EC) has published the summary of contributions to its ‘Public Consultation on FinTech: a more competitive and innovative European financial sector’. The consultation, conducted in spring 2017, sought stakeholders’ input to further develop the EC’s approach towards technological innovation in financial services. More than 200 respondents provided their views on FinTech’s legal, regulatory and policy aspects.

Respondents favoured a European Union (EU) policy approach to FinTech guided by the principles of technological neutrality, proportionality and integrity, as well as “same service, same risk, same rule” to ensure a level playing field among market players. The need to maintain an open dialogue between regulators, supervisors and the industry was emphasised. Most respondents expressed broad support for an EU framework for crowdfunding and peer-to-peer financing and convergence across the EU on how supervisors handle licencing, outsourcing, and support for innovation (e.g. innovation hubs).

Malaysia signs a series of cooperation agreements

Sep 25 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

On 14 September the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) announced that it has signed a series of FinTech cooperation agreements with several regulators in major financial centres. The SC has established FinTech bridges with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This follows the first agreement signed between the SC and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in June 2017.

Australian Government seeks consultation on development and implementation of Digital Economy Strategy

Sep 25 2017

By Jim Bulling and Felix Charlesworth

The Federal Government has released a consultation paper entitled ‘The Digital Economy: Opening up the Conversation.‘

The consultation paper invites all interested parties across the private and public sectors to contribute to and assist with the development of the Australian Government’s Digital Economy Strategy (Strategy). The Strategy will be launched mid-way through 2018. The Government estimates that adopting a strategy which embraces the emergence of the digital economy could boost the economy by $140 billion to $250 billion over the next 8 years.

Islamic Finance News Europe Forum 2017

Sep 19 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

The Islamic Finance News Europe Forum 2017 took place in London on 11 September. The Forum gave several insights into the Islamic FinTech regulatory space.

Ian Johnson, the Chief Executive of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) (the regulator of the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC)) spoke at the Forum about his organisation’s approach to regulating the FinTech space. He said that regulators are engaging strongly in the sector, often at the behest of their national governments who are leading the charge as a policy matter. The regulator’s job was to allow innovation whilst maintaining systemic and investor protection.

Switzerland and Israel sign cooperation agreement

Sep 13 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

Swiss and Israeli financial regulators entered into a FinTech cooperation agreement on 4 September. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Israeli Capital Markets Insurance and Savings Authority (CMISA) and the Israel Securities Authority (“ISA”) intend to cooperate with the aim of encouraging and enabling innovation in their respective financial services industries and of supporting financial innovators in complying with the regulations in each other’s jurisdictions.

The agreement sets out existing activities in the FinTech regulatory space by each regulator. The new cooperation will include information sharing (including on regulatory issues), support to financial innovators from the other’s country (including help to understand the relevant regulatory environment), dialogue on new innovations and knowledge and expertise sharing.

World Economic Forum publishes report on FinTech

Sep 08 2017

By Giovanni Campi and Ignasi Guardans

On 22 August, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published the report “Beyond FinTech: A Pragmatic Assessment of Disruptive Potential in Financial Services”. The report, prepared in collaboration with Deloitte, maps out the impact of FinTech firms on different sectors and presents contrasting outlooks for the future of the industry.

One its key takeaways is that FinTech companies have changed how financial services are structured, but have so far failed to establish themselves as dominant players in the market. However, they have created the basis for potential disruption in the future. The success of financial institutions is thus increasingly more dependent on their ability to promptly adapt their business models and develop partnerships.

Bahrain announces first entrants into its FinTech regulatory sandbox

Sep 07 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has announced the first two entrants into its FinTech regulatory sandbox: Tramonex, a London-based foreign exchange cash management solution for businesses; and NOW Money, a Dubai-based account and remittance service for low-income workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The CBB launched its Regulatory Sandbox Framework in June and updated the framework rules at the end of August. The sandbox application process is open to both existing CBB licensees (financial institutions with FinTech initiatives) and other companies (local and foreign). The latter may include financial sector companies as well as technology and telecom companies intending to test an innovative product or service, professional service firms which partner with or service financial institutions, or any other type of applicant working within the financial services.

Category:FinTech Industry & Regulation