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The DSA has a broad scope and regulates many aspects of digital services, including in the fintech space.

By Gail E. Crawford, Jean-Luc Juhan, Susan Kempe-Mueller, Deborah J. Kirk, Lars Kjølbye, Elisabetta Righini, Sven B. Völcker, Ben Leigh, Victoria Wan, and Amy Smyth

As a key part of the EU’s digital regulation strategy, the Digital Services Act (DSA) seeks to modernise legal frameworks and create a safer and more open digital environment.

It regulates many aspects of digital services, including liability for online content and services, targeted advertising, know-your-business-customer requirements, transparency for users, and managing systemic platform risks.

The paper discusses supervision and regulatory issues of cryptocurrencies, and finds that a central bank digital currency in the EU is not (yet) warranted.

By Max von Cube

In May, the European Central Bank’s Crypto-Assets Task Force published a paper on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Ripple (referred to as narrowly defined “crypto-assets”). The paper, titled “Crypto-Assets: Implications for financial stability, monetary policy, and payments and market infrastructures,” follows similar recent publications by the European Banking Authority (EBA)[i] and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).[ii]

After examining cryptocurrency markets and tracing their linkage to the financial system and the real economy, the authors of the paper found that cryptocurrencies currently do not pose a material risk to financial stability. Further, the authors currently see no direct implications of cryptocurrencies for monetary policy.

Industry leaders outline best practices for digital advice platforms at compliance seminar.

By Stephen P. Wink and Naim Culhaci

Robo-advisers, or digital advice platforms, have rapidly become a standard part of financial services offerings. Virtually every incumbent retail brokerage firm either has established or is planning to establish a digital advice platform, joining the pure FinTech players who pioneered this market. This turn toward robo-advisers is being driven by the potential for cost efficiencies, as well as the desire to connect with younger investors, who often prefer an online interface.

Over the past few years, regulators, lawyers, and compliance professionals have grappled with how to apply established regulatory concepts to the robo-advisory context, in which human involvement can be minimal to nonexistent. At the 2019 SIFMA Compliance & Legal Society Seminar, Latham & Watkins participated in a panel discussion with legal executives from banks and investment firms on this issue.