Addressing financial innovation: the launch of a New Task Force on Financial Technology

Last week the Commission has launched a Task Force on Financial Technology focusing on the FinTech sector (see the press release here). FinTeach refers to new applications, processes, products or business models in the financial services industry such as peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding. The new Task Force brings together the expertise of the Commission staff in several areas including competition and consumer protection, financial and digital services and digital innovation and security. It will assess the state of the sector in the EU and develop strategies for addressing the potential challenges that this sector poses, in line with the Commission's goal to develop a comprehensive strategy on FinTech. The work of this Task Force is potentially very important for protecting consumers of financial services, given that FinTech challenges the 'traditional' consumer protection rules, including for example the definitions of a consumer and a creditor. The task force will engage with stakeholders and present policy recommendations in the first half of 2017. We will be anxiously waiting for this report.