Quantifying the Potential of Utilizing Technology to Integrate EU Financial Markets - An SPA Insights Paper - April 2019

With EU policy makers pressing for greater financial market integration to enhance cross border trade and investment, the latest paper from SPA explores why many financial service providers are wary of moving ahead.

Certainly, new technologies like blockchain can support greater integration. But new IT platforms require significant investments. These cost considerations can (and often do) act as a disincentive for banks to participate fully in market integration efforts – especially if the short-term business benefits are unclear.

With the Fintechs aggressively entering the space, this SPA paper examines the role of bodies like the SEPA Mobile Proxy Forum in driving adoption, and uncovers the efforts being made to incentivize the participation of domestic mobile P2P payment providers.

Alongside the importance of industry-wide common standards, the paper also sets out four key steps it believes will help to promote further financial integration through the use of advanced technologies.

The summary paper can be downloaded pdf here (102 KB) .

An extended 4,500-word academic paper is also available for those seeking greater detail and insight pdf here (307 KB)