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GFIN Consultation Document

Letter Summary:

The Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) has published a consultation paper with respect to the potential collaboration of various regulators on emerging innovation trends in financial services, such as big data, AI and blockchain applications. The proposal suggests GFIN would act as a network of regulators to share experiences and best practices, provide a forum for joint policy work, and allow firms to conduct cross border trials. The desired outcome of the initiative is a global system that better serves society by harnessing technology to provide improved service and create a new framework for cooperation between financial service regulators to complement the work of other standard setting organizations. Comments are sought on its mission statement, functions and priorities. 

Overview of the Council’s Comments:

The council fundamentally agreed with the global approach taken by regulators to FinTech. The suggested framework is sufficiently flexible to allow for new technologies and transactions, including for example in the context of digital currency. This will bring legitimacy, attract investors and promote economic activity. The council urged the importance of enforcement in the current framework and suggested that it should be a priority, while permitting potential exemptions when the framework is unable to accommodate the technology. Overall, the council suggests the importance for regulatory transparency with respect to requests for exemptions received and policy options to ensure a long term approach is taken to land on a consolidated approach, with a level playing field