On November 29th, the four main financial regulators (ACM, AFM, DNB and AP), representatives from the payments scene (WorldPay, Innopay and Moneymonk), Google and Holland Fintech gathered at De Nederlandse Bank (DNB) for the fourth conference of “Fintech Meets the Regulators” joined by more than 100 industry participants. They convened to discuss the impact of the new European payment services directive, PSD2, and its impact on innovation in the financial ecosystem.
Large technology companies are entering, or have announced their intention to enter the payment scene – armed with huge amounts of data about their consumers and their behavioral preferences. Parallel to this, awareness around PSD2 is leading to an open banking movement, as more and more consumers see the benefits of integrating financial data with third party services, and an extensive government campaign has led to the GDPR becoming a mainstream acronym.
E-commerce is a leading battlefield for financial services providers, and purchasing online is now one click to the check-out counter, but a shorter sales journey doesn’t mean the ability for large tech companies to obtain personal data becomes more difficult – in fact data enrichment practices prove the opposite. Insights about the meaning of these changes and discussions about their impact are therefore crucial.
In her opening speech, DNB division director Petra Hielkema indicated that payment transactions are changing rapidly due to new players, new technology and changing consumer wishes. In the Netherlands, instant payments are the new normal. In the context of PSD2, banks have built APIs that allow third-party service providers (PISP and AISP) to offer new services to consumers and businesses. This makes the Netherlands a vanguard country, but in a single market system, it is now time to get Europe moving. Noteworthy is the fact that the European Commission, ECB and major European banks took the initiative in November for a Pan-European Payment Strategy (PEPS).
Developments in the market with new entrants require transparent supervision, dialogue with new parties and sufficient international coordination. In this way it is very important that users of financial services remain confident in the digital world in which financial services take place. The exchange of knowledge, from financial supervision to data and ethics, between market players and regulators helps to ensure the financial ecosystem remains reliable and safe.
Co-organizer and Holland Fintech CEO Don Ginsel stated “this edition of Fintech Meets the Regulator again underlined the importance of financial market parties and regulators need to understand each other’s roles and procedures. We are indeed forging forward in payments and the regulations around it. 2020 will be a pivotal year where we will see increased alignment and progress. It will take some time, but we are getting there.”
This sold out invitation only event was organized by De Nederlandse Bank, EuroSysteem and Holland Fintech.
You can find the Opening Remarks by Petra Hielkema here.
