Payall Payment Systems today announced the publication of Regulating Fintechs: From Defense to Offense, a new whitepaper authored by Jonathan Tyce that reframes the regulatory debate around fintech oversight.
For years, regulators have been caught in what appears to be a binary choice:
- Defense – tightening controls, raising barriers, limiting access.
- Offense – loosening restrictions to encourage innovation and hoping oversight can catch up.
According to the paper, regulators need new tech to engage with fintechs. From application to audits to service delivery – regulators must have the right technology themselves to efficiently and effectively do their jobs and provision services to fintechs.
Also, the author steps into a European regulatory quagmire and describes a major inconsistency between policymakers, rule makers and/or regulators regarding central bank deposit taking and access to the payment rails (SEPA, Faster Payments). This situation not only impairs innovation, but it’s a source of tension between banks and fintechs and everyone loses – fintechs, banks, regulators and users.
“The truth is fintechs can innovate and be safe at the same time; these aren’t mutually exclusive,” said Gary Palmer, CEO of Payall Payment Systems. “If regulators and central banks have the proper technology (which they don’t have – so they’re limited by people resource budgets) to oversee as well as deliver services to fintechs, and rules and regulations are logical – they can efficiently and safely encourage and even materially contribute to innovations in financial services.”
The whitepaper highlights the systemic inefficiencies in current oversight and calls for a more proactive approach that enables regulators to:
- Engage with fintechs digitally from application to audits.
- Eliminate reliance on after-the-fact spot checks.
- Gain see-through visibility into counterparties and relationships.
- Provide the confidence needed to balance innovation with safety and soundness.
By reframing the defense-versus-offense debate, the paper sets out a pathway for supervisors to lead — protecting financial systems without stifling innovation.
The whitepaper, Regulating Fintechs: From Defense to Offense, is available for free download here: https://payall.com/resources/insights/defending-fintechs-or-defending-the-past-rethinking-regulation-in-a-rapidly.
