Digital Law Up(to)date: Towards a new European legal framework for the digital financial sector

A European Parliament resolution of 8 October 2020 has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (see here). The Parliament gives recommendations to the European Commission (EC) on the development of the legal framework for the digitalisation of the financial sector. The EC has drafted two texts, one on crypto-assets (see here) and another on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (see here).

Parliament welcomes the two initiatives considering that it is essential to regulate the sector. It notes that the financial sector is the world's largest user of information and communication technologies, and that financial services are increasingly offered by large technology companies. 

Parliament points out some weaknesses in the drafts, notably the lack of rules on issues related to money laundering or criminal and/or terrorist activities linked to crypto-assets. It also underlines the risks on the data (personal and non-personal), since the digital financial services use artificial intelligence, and therefore data.

This article was co-authored by Edouard Cruysmans in his capacity of Professional Support Lawyer at Stibbe.