The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is working with Estonia’s Ministry of Finance and its Financial Services Authority to form a regulatory sandbox.
Together, the groups are launching a technical assistance FinTech project in the country. There will be an inaugural workshop made up of over 35 attendees which represent a wide range of market participants, such as startups, banks and innovators.
As part of this initiative, the organisations are establishing a regulatory sandbox. The EBRD-led project would provide authorities with the ability to better learn about innovative businesses, while companies will be able to test new products with customers within a controlled environment.
Over the next three months, the EBRD, the European Commission and the Estonian authorities will look to benchmark the technologies and design relevant framework for the sandbox. Once this is completed, a list of recommended reforms will be given to the Estonian government which will aim to support the implementation of new technology into the country’s financial market.
The EBRD is actively engaged in policy discussions around innovation and recently requested to join the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) as an observer. In this role, it would give the bank the capability of assisting regulators, to foster knowledge sharing and support the development of cross-border testing.
GFIN is an initiative made up of 29 organisations with a goal of improving interactions between companies and regulators. The group launched its operations earlier in the month and made clear its aim of implementing new framework for collaboration between financial players and regulators.
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