ESAs’ increasing interest in monitoring of BigTechs’ financial services activities

The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – the ESAs) published on 1st of February a report that sets out the results of a stocktake of BigTech direct financial services provision in the EU. The report identifies the types of financial services currently carried out by BigTechs in the EU pursuant to EU licences and highlights inherent opportunities, risks, regulatory and supervisory challenges. The ESAs will continue to strengthen the monitoring of the relevance of BigTech in the EU financial services sector, including via the establishment of a new monitoring matrix.

In this alert, you will read more about the background, a general overview of BigTech involvement in the financial markets, potential opportunities and risks, report conclusions, and next steps.