Regulating FinTech: From Legal Marketing to the Pro-Competitive Paradigm

Abstract

The increasing pace of FinTech development has triggered a worldwide race among policy makers to overhaul their own regulatory landscape in order to be as innovation-friendly as possible. Consequently, a vast array of new tools and regulatory practices have emerged over the last years. The paper provides a critical systematisation of regulatory strategies and toolkits that have emerged so far (such as regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs), stressing the increasing role played by legal marketing as a by-product of regulatory competition. Furthermore, the article describes and supports the paradigm of pro-competitive regulation underlying Open Banking projects in the EU, UK, Australia and other jurisdictions as the true game-changer approach that can unlock the potential of FinTech innovation.

Keywords: FinTech; BigTech; regulation; sandbox; innovation hub; Open Banking; pro-competitive regulation

JEL Classification: G21; G23, G24, G28; K20; K22