The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a call for evidence on digital finance to gather information on certain issues.
ESMA hopes this call for evidence will collate relevant information on particular issues, including value chains, platforms and groups’ provision of financial and non-financial services.
Feedback from this will support ESMA’s technical advice to the European Commission.
The regulator states that while digital transformation and technology can bring a wealth of opportunities, the changes it causes are not risk free. For example, there are greater challenges around cybersecurity, data management, concentration risk and competition.
These changes also bring regulatory and supervisory challenges due to their global and cross-sectorial nature, ESMA said.
Through its advice, ESMA hopes to assist the European Commission address these challenges and improve existing legislative framework by mid-2022.
In the call for evidence, the regulator has focused on three topics. The first is on more fragmented or non-integrated value chains, which have become more abundant due to financial firms increasingly relying on third parties to deliver services.
The other two areas of focus are digital platforms and bundling of financial services, and mixed activity groups providing both financial and non-financial services.
This call for evidence is open until August 1 and seeks comments from interested stakeholders.
Esma will deliver a report to the European Commission by January 21 2022.
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