Archive: January 2023

On 16 January 2023, the Regulation on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA) entered into force.

On 12 January 2023, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published a thematic report on national financial education initiatives on digitalization, with a focus on cybersecurity, scams and fraud.

On 18 January 2022, HM Treasury set out its response to its July 2020 consultation seeking to bring certain cryptoassets into the scope of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (FPO). The consultation set out a proposed definition for qualifying cryptoassets, to be brought into the scope of the FPO as a controlled investment. The definition proposed in the consultation set out several criteria for a qualifying cryptoasset, including that it was fungible, transferable, not electronic money, and not a currency issued by a central bank or public authority.

On 5 December 2022, the Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) published its new guidance on direct marketing (the Direct Marketing Guidance).

On 27 December 2022, there was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ)

Buy now pay later (BNPL) is a sort of short-term financing that allows consumers to make purchases and pay for them at a later date. There are a different models for BNPL products. Generally these are categorised into split pay, pay later, long-term financing at 0% annual percentage rate, longer-term financing with subsidized interest or fee. Distribution channels for BNPL include merchant checkout, merchant platforms, multi-lender networks, bank credit cards and white label providers (customised store credit cards). The arrangements for BNPL have become increasingly popular with both merchants and customers. Such widespread adoption has led to increasing regulatory scrutiny although in some jurisdictions self-regulation through industry codes have been the preferred route. Regulators are concerned that consumers may not fully understand the implications of entering into a BNPL scheme.

Please join us from 3:30pm on Wednesday 18 January 2023 as we look ahead to the key legal and regulatory trends that we see impacting across FinTech in 2023.

On 4 January 2023 the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a letter from the European Commission (“the Commission”) to the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) requesting advice on designation criteria and fees for the oversight framework for critical third-party service providers set out under Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA). Together with the letter, the EBA published the content of the Call for Technical Advice, which sets out in more detail the scope of the advice requested by the Commission. As per the mandate set out in DORA, the ESAs are requested to deliver technical advice on two delegated acts.

On 1 December 2022, the Wolfsberg Group published Principles for Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) in Financial Crime Compliance.

Every month we provide the Global Blockchain Business Council’s Post-Trade Distributed Ledger group with a global regulatory FinTech updater, the latest version of which can be found here.