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Finnish regulator opens an innovation helpdesk

Chris Hamblin, Editor, London, 20 October 2016

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The FIN-FSA has opened a new innovation helpdesk for 'fintech' businesses and other innovators in the sector, both old and new.

The Finnish regulator says on its website that the helpdesk does not replace the work of the innovators themselves (adding "you must still do your homework"), is not a replacement for consultants, and does not represent any kind of promise of positive supervisory decisions in the future. Its purpose, instead, is to provide general guidance about regulations related to innovation and supervisory issues and to tell firms when to provide additional information in such situations as official authorisation or an application for registration process.

The helpdesk's objectives are:

  • to encourage more discourse between the regulator and fintech companies;
  • to create a positive atmosphere that supports the development of the sector;
  • to make the supervisory authority more approachable;
  • to increase firms' awareness of financial sector regulation and related interpretations; and
  • to speed innovation and facilitate the subsequent authorisation or registration application processes.

The Innovation HelpDesk provides guidance in the form of replies to e-mail enquiries, advisory calls with an expert (maximum 30 minutes) and advisory meetings with several experts (maximum one hour).

The regulator conducted a digitalisation survey of its supervised entities in the summer and the helpdesk seems to be the result of that. Finland sees itself as a good country in which to start a business up and FIN-FSA, as the regulator calls itself, is keen to make that a reality in the field of financial technology.

Of the respondents to the survey, 65% considered that financial sector digitalisation was going to improve their operating conditions, while 25% considered that their operating conditions would remain unchanged. 70% of banking sector respondents were of the opinion that current financial sector entities have the best opportunities for exploiting digitalisation in the sector. Only 10% of banking sector respondents considered that "FinTech entities hold the best opportunities for reaping the benefits of digitalisation." At the same time, however, global surveys show that there are fears that, in the banking sector alone, FinTech will take more than one quarter of current business volumes.

The results of some international surveys show that financial firms outside Finland are thinking of 'networking' themselves with fintech companies more actively than Finnish ones. According to the survey, investment firms and management companies are trying to cope by themselves, although the increasing automation of investment advice and 'Big Data' will probably weigh heavily on these sectors as well.

Many supervised entities have prepared for digitalisation (i.e. the integration of digital technology into their everyday lives) by increasing their IT resources, building up 'digitalisation skills' and developing new services and service channels. They are having problems with organisation structure, skill shortages, regulation and outdated IT systems, this last problem affecting banks and insurance companies the most. In this respect, the results are broadly in line with those of international surveys.

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