Big Tech move into finance to come under closer EU scrutiny

Rakuten

01/02/2024 15:20

By Huw Jones
       LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Tracking how Big Tech is
moving into the European Union's financial services sector is
challenging, but it currently does not pose a threat to
financial stability, the bloc's financial watchdogs said on
Thursday.
    The EU's banking, insurance and securities regulators
jointly "mapped out" the presence of Big Tech moves into
financial services, which have raised concerns given their
reach, troves of data, and deep pockets.
    The stocktake looked at Google owner Alphabet  GOOGL.O ,
Amazon  AMZN.O , Meta  META.O , Alibaba  9988.HK ,
Tencent 0700.HK , Rakuten  4755.T , Orange  ORAN.PA , Vodafone
 VOD.L , Tesla  TSLA.O , and Apple  AAPL.O .
    "The results of the stocktake show an increasing presence,
albeit still at a low base, of Big Tech subsidiaries as direct
providers of financial services in Europe, notably in the areas
of payments and e-money," the watchdogs said.
    "Big Techs directly providing insurance services have been
reported as well." 
    The watchdogs said there was poor visibility over activities
within Big Tech, unreliable notification of cross-border
activities to regulators, and challenges in monitoring how they
offer financial services.
    There is no urgent need for regulatory changes in relation
to Big Tech's direct financial services provision, they said.
    "However, they reiterated the potential risks from any
potential further increase in these activities," the watchdogs
said in a statement.
    They said they will continue to strengthen the monitoring of
the relevance of Big Tech in the EU financial services sector by
using a new monitoring "matrix".
    
    
    

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ESAs Graphic on Big Tech    https://tmsnrt.rs/3vXtEPh
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Huw Jones
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
 ((huw.jones@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 3326; Reuters
Messaging: huw.jones.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))