Schackmann-Fallis: "Making financial innovations accessible to as many customers as possible"

Innovative financial services can be achieved using new technologies. An international group of experts, with the participation of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, has addressed the question of how banking regulation should deal with this. Today this group is presenting its recommendations to the EU Commission.

"Technological innovations are changing our everyday lives ever faster. This is particularly the case with new financial services. In the future, it will continue to be important to provide as many customers as possible with easy access to modern digital products. This begins with the regulatory requirements for these products," said Karl-Peter Schackmann-Fallis, Managing Director of the Board of the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV), on the occasion of the presentation of the report today in Brussels.

The report of the expert group "Regulatory obstacles to financial innovation" ("ROFIEG") includes recommendations to ensure equal competitive conditions for new and established market participants, such as start-ups, banks and savings banks, as well as technology companies throughout the EU. Future regulatory requirements should constructively evaluate the opportunities and risks of dealing with data. Positive and negative effects of technological developments in the financial services sector should be considered allowing for the fact that they can be used by as many people as possible. 

The expert group "Regulatory obstacles to financial innovation" was set up by the European Commission as part of its 2018 FinTech Action Plan to review the suitability of the European legal and regulatory framework for technology-driven financial innovation, and to identify barriers that may hamper its development in the EU.