The European Digital Finance Programme

The digital transformation is triggering significant changes in EU regulation and supervision

Legislative and regulatory reform – triggered by the rapid digitalisation of the financial sector is – happening at full steam. This process is largely concentrated at EU level, and the European legislator has, in recent times, brought forward a significant number of progressive updates to the rule book. Several of them, such as the DMA/DSA package, are already adopted or in force, whereas others, such as MiCA, are currently being finalised. At the same time, the European Supervisory Authorities and national supervisors are also updating their supervisory handbooks and expectations toward industry.

Markets are currently witnessing a regulatory revolution, in its depth and breadth comparable only to the swaths of regulation adopted in response to the 2008 financial crisis. This time, though, legislation has a decisive pro-active element to it, with a view to increasing the competitiveness of the European financial market.

Capacity-building

Market participants, legal practitioners, and supervisors and other public authorities need to build relevant capacities fast. The sheer volume of new rules, the novelty of fresh concepts and the level of technicality, and short implementation for many new rules, poses significant adaptation challenges particularly as a significant part comes in the form of directly applicable EU regulations.

Overcoming these challenges requires a strategy for capacity-building that concentrates on:

• A choice of the most relevant subject matters (crypto-assets, AI, operational relisience/cyber, data, BigTech);
• Practical presentation of the key aspects of regulation and supervision;
• A European focus as Europe is leading the global debate regarding the regulation and supervision of digital finance;
• A combination of supervisory and market perspectives;
• Valuable professional networks.