The FMA’s FinTech Point of Contact, which was only established in October 2016, has been very positively received by the market: in the first three months of being operational it has received and processed up to three enquiries a week from companies or start-ups. At the same time the team in the FinTech Point of Contact has also held informational meetings with 25 market participants, at which, in harmony with the FMA’s integrated approach to supervision, experts from various different areas of competence have been on hand to explain and answer various questions. The questions have focussed strongly on the requirement to hold licences in to order to operate certain business models, video-based identification procedures and the prevention of money laundering, the EU Payment Services Directive II (PSD II) as well as issues relating to crowdfunding and outsourcing. The FMA is currently checking three FinTech business models.
“The service offered by the FinTech Point of Contact clearly has its finger firmly on the pulse, as demand for its services has shown. For technology-oriented companies that develop innovative solutions for financial services in particular, it is frequently not clear from the outset, about whether and what overlaps exist, both in legal terms and in terms of regulated fields of supervision. The FinTech Point of Contact provides companies with a ‘Single Point of Contact’, where a single FMA employee provides support for clarifying all questions relation to licencing and supervisory law. Ultimately it is the market location that also profits,” remarked the FMA’s Executive Board members, Helmut Ettl and Klaus Kumpfmüller.
The FinTech Point of Contact also provides support for existing licenced financial companies that wish to adapt their business models in the wake of the wave of increasing digitalisation. It can be reached online via a form on the FMA website.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Mr. Tiemon Kiesenhofer, MBA
+43/(0)1/24959-6010
+43/(0)676/882 49 610