The emergence of FinTech has transformed the way consumers interact with their finances, by giving them more transparent and accessible information about their finances and by providing a wealth of innovative new products and services to use. As European Fintechs we believe all European consumers should be able to benefit from affordable and innovative financial services solutions – but cross-border barriers remain.

Today’s release of the EU Digital Finance Strategy takes a clear step forward to tearing down these barriers and completing the Digital Single Market for financial services.  For example, facilitating digital onboarding will make it easier for consumers to make use of these new products – no matter which EU country they live in. In addition, harmonised one-stop shop licensing and passporting rules for a broad range of digital finance activities will spur innovation and give important legal certainty to innovative business models.  

EFA supports the European Commission’s vision for retail payments including a competitive, innovative payments market. Making instant payments the new norm and promoting fair and equal access to critical infrastructure is key to achieving a truly competitive payments landscape.

Marc Roberts, Chairman of the EFA Board said “delivering the EU Single Market and removing cross-border barriers for financial services is at the heart of the EFA’s goals and we welcome today’s publications on a Digital Finance and Payments Strategy. We very much welcome the Commission’s focus on the digital identity in this regard. We further believe in customer-centric regulation, to build a fairer and more accessible financial services landscape and are looking forward to working together with the European Commission and other stakeholders to make this a reality in the near future.”