EC and ESAs Launch European Forum for Innovation Facilitators

Members of EFIF will include ESAs, the national competent authorities, and, on ad-hoc basis, representatives from third-countries' competent authorities, who will be invited to participate in the EFIF meetings. The establishment of EFIF follows up on the 2019 joint report by ESAs on regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs and is in line with the objectives of FinTech Action Plan of EC. The action plan sets out concrete steps for a more innovative and competitive EU financial industry. 

The EC Vice President also mentioned that EC has set up an EU Fintech Lab for supervisors, technology providers, and financial institutions to deep-dive together into specific technologies. Thus far, the labs have focused on cloud outsourcing and artificial intelligence and the work will continue this year. Mr. Dombrovskis added that the EFIF forum is a joint response by EC and ESAs to enable the following:

• Creation of a network of national supervisors for exchanging best approaches to fintech

• Identification of regulatory and supervisory obstacles early on, allowing to address them more quickly at EU level

• Enhancement of capacity and knowledge-sharing among the competent authorities and ESAs

Related Links

• Press Release
• Speech of EC Vice President
• EC Action Plan on Fintech
• Report on Innovation Hubs

Keywords: Europe, EU, Banking, Insurance, Securities, Fintech, Regtech, EFIF, Innovation Facilitators, Regulatory Sandboxes, Innovation Hubs, Fintech Action Plan, EC, ESAs