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One effect of ongoing platformisation of financial services in Europe is to make it easier to
access various offers, compare services and get information at the touch of a button. By the
same token, the EU Digital Finance Platform will bring together a wealth of information, data
and communications in one place, supporting innovative firms and regulators. It will build links
between financial authorities and the industry.
This initiative is about us regulators being innovative ourselves. We are adapting the existing
regulatory and supervisory tools to the increasingly digitalised financial markets and
developing new ways of cross-border cooperation.
Supporting innovation facilitators
The Digital Finance Platform will primarily support cross-border activities of national financial
facilitators in their engagements with innovative FinTechs in Europe. And when I talk about
innovation facilitators here, I use the term broadly. I have in mind any sort of regulatory
approach to innovation that involves a dialogue between regulators and market participants,
whether the latter are regulated or unregulated. Fundamentally, innovation facilitators help us
as regulators to create a dialogue and encourage openness to new ideas.
National innovation facilitators include hubs, sandboxes and accelerators. The events they
host have a range of eye-catching names – such as techsprints, hackathons and buildathons.
But they all have a common aim to make regulation and supervision support innovation, while
staying alert and responsive to emerging risks. Innovation facilitators therefore promote smart
regulation, where innovation and supervision go hand in hand...
more at ESMA