Please find below our draft programme (subject to change)
The panel will explore what the rapid evolution of the technology means for the financial services sector: Is the AI Act still fit for purpose to advance Europe’s global competitiveness? How is AI being used by financial services and how is this expected to be evolving? What obstacles does the financial services industry face in developing and deploying AI solutions? What do the increasing use of AI mean for the role of supervisors? What should we expect from the planned sectorial-specific supervisory guidance for the financial services sector? How can AI support compliance and supervisory effectiveness? What role is there for international standard setters to adopt common approaches when it comes to the use of AI by internationally active financial services groups?
The new European operational resilience framework for ICT services in the financial services sector will now be in place for one year. Supervisors and the industry have gained their first experience with the framework. The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) are also adapting their broader outsourcing guidelines to reflect the new reality of DORA. The Single Supervisory Mechanism adopted its own guidelines. With the ongoing interest in simplification, the European Commission is now evaluating the efficiency of the EU’s wider cyber resilience framework.
The panel will explore how DORA is functioning. Are the ICT registers working well? What have been the challenges in making DORA operational? What steps have the ESAs taken to establish the new oversight framework for critical ICT providers? Are concerns in some quarters that the framework introduces extraterritorial rules justified? Has the choice of a sector-specific cyber resilience framework for financial services proven to be the correct approach? Should DORA be subject to efforts to simplify the framework, for example by establishing a central hub for incident reporting? How can we ensure better international cooperation when it comes to cyber resilience?
The European Commission has decided to update its DLT pilot regime. This will in theory facilitate the roll out of DLT-based technological solutions in the areas of securities trading and post-trading. Other jurisdictions are adopting similar approaches. A key component of making the DLT technology work is to legally recognise the tokenised form of securities. In the EU, Luxembourg and Malta have been leading the way but more could be done at a European level.
Panellists will be asked to explore some of the following questions: What is the potential of DLT and tokenised securities to transform European securities and fund management markets? What would be the likely impact of the new DLT proposal? What would be the potential benefits of moving to the recognition and use of tokenised securities? Could this facilitate retail investor participation, such as through fractional securities and direct access to financial infrastructure? What can we learn from the crypto markets? How should the cash settlement of securities transactions be best handled in a new DLT environment: is there a choice between stablecoins and the digital neuro? Is this an area where there is more scope for international cooperation?
At the time of this panel MiCA (the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation) will be in force for a year. Some of the provisions related to stablecoins will even be in force for 18 months. The Commission will have also just released a first evaluation report. Other jurisdictions have been following suit with their own regulatory and supervisory regimes, not least the USA. Views also differ across the world whether to offer public solutions, central bank digital currencies, or leave such solutions to the private sector in the form of stablecoins, at times even turning these into part of a country’s strategic reserve.
This panel will discuss their experiences in the implementation of MiCA. Has MiCA delivered the innovation and market integration that was hoped for? Is the regime still fit for purpose or does it already require updating, such as by incorporating new services, reflecting new decentralised market structures or advancing direct supervision for the largest service providers? What role is there for international cooperation when it seems different parts of the world are pursuing their own strategies when it comes to crypto assets? Should we start and think of crypto assets as a new means of payment or investment asset class and what does this mean for European regulation?
