Regulating Fintech: Objectives, Principles, and Practices

Abstract

We provide an overview and key elements on the ongoing debate of whether and how to regulate fintech. We review three objectives of financial regulation (investor protection, market integrity, safeguarding financial stability) in the context of recent fintech developments, cover three guiding principles many regulators follow (legal certainty, technology neutrality, and proportionality), and end with a suggested synopsis of current fintech regulatory practices: “wait-and-see”, “same risk, same rules” (“duck typing”), or “new functionality, new rules” (“coding”).

Keywords: fintech, financial technology, digital currency

JEL Classification: G15, F65, O16