EU Fintech report to be debated in May

The EU legislative observatory indicates the EP’s report on Fintech is to be debated in committee session in mid-April and in plenary in mid-May. The draft opinion focuses on the benefits of Fintech for SMEs and calls on the Commission to remove barriers that currently prevent the advancement of digital services. Proposed amendments call for further measures to be taken to combat the risks of increasingly digitised business, and criticise the current lack of an EU-wide credit or debit card scheme and a common European online banking payments system. It refers to the authentication standards required under PSD2 and says these must take Fintech and e-commerce practices into account. One proposed amendment recognises the benefits of regulatory sandboxes. Others call for equal recognition of Regtech and Insuretech.