The following represents a carefully curated selection of our recent Thought Leadership contributions:

Blockchain and data protection: the main concerns

As one of the most important drivers of the digital industrial revolution, blockchain technology and its applications are today one of the most discussed global topics. A blockchain can be defined as a decentralised database that keeps track of an unlimited number of data assets and transactions through a peer-to-peer network. It is a registry maintained by a consensus algorithm and stored in a network of “nodes”, i.e. computers that allow (also personal!) data to be included in “blocks” that are chained (hashed) one to another. Blockchain’s usage is no longer limited to digital crypto currencies, as blockchain databases may be deployed in innumerable circumstances and scenarios, including, for instance, within the financial services and insurance sectors for money transfer, peer-to-peer lending and transfer of securities, as well as automatic execution of contracts.

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Robo-advisor: an interesting challenge

Technological innovation has been affecting the financial sector for several years, by progressively changing aspects of the business. This process has seen a first phase that involved the management of information, a second phase that changed the way transactions were performed and, lastly, a third phase that changed the relationship between clients and service providers. With specific reference to this last phase, it is interesting to understand whether market players traditionally active in the financial consulting sector (i.e. traditional banks) will be able, in the future, to contribute to the development of automated consulting.

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Artificial intelligence and big data analytics for the insurance industry: hot topics in the regulation of InsurTech

The insurance industry is facing the possibility to improve the performance capacity of its business by relying on artificial intelligence and big data analytics In this context, ‘client risk-profiling algorithms’ and knowledge of client habits/characteristics is going to be designed and implemented adequately, resulting in clients classified and assigned an accurate risk profile, together with the possibility to offer the necessary products at the exact price.

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InsurTech: the top five legal issues to consider

InsurTech is the word commonly used to frame this change and represents the impact of ICT technologies (and, in general, digital transformation) in the insurance sector. There are many legal issues to take into account when dealing with InsurTech, also considering the heavily regulated nature of the relevant market. In this article, we will summarize the main issues to consider.

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Protecting FinTech

Disruptive financial technologies, such as blockchain, new electronic payment systems and transaction authentication technologies, are changing financial services, raising a number of legal issues FinTech companies should consider. In this post we address the issue of the legal protection of FinTech, taking into consideration the main intellectual property rights protecting innovative technologies and software relating to finance.

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FinTech: the top five legal issues to consider

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) identified eight areas that actually constitute what is currently called “Fintech.” Such areas are payments, insurance, planning, trading and investments, blockchain, lending/crowdfunding, data and analytics, and security.

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Interoperability of FinTech firms

Automation in financial and advisory services is growing, and European Supervisory Authorities are not taking immediate actions, nor has the European regulator set forth any rules in order to drive the innovation towards a preferred path and standards. This level of freedom allows fintech firms to perform more than one activity and be able to provide more than one service alternative to those provided by banks, financial intermediary or insurance companies.

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Customer profiling for credit decisions made easy for the financial industry under new Polish legislation

The modern banking and credit industry rely heavily on the analysis of the customers’ data. In fact, long before the advent of the GDPR the banks were allowed ex lege to process the necessary data in order to assess the risk of granting a loan to a particular business or a person. With the advent of new powerful data processing tools such as deep learning algorithms, AI the digital finance industry came to a point where the knowledge about the customer can be one of the main advantages in a run for a client. What is more, the incumbent banks are challenged by the rising force of digital world, the Internet giants who know about customers, behavior more than ever.

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PSD2: legal issues in open banking (and GDPR!)

Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (the so-called Payment Services Directive2 or PSD 2) has contributed greatly to the consolidation of the European payment services market and, as a consequence, to the growth of open banking in the EU. In Italy, PSD2 has been implemented by the Italian Legislative Decree 218/2017, published in the Official Journal on 13 January 2018 (Legislative Decree). Open banking is generally defined as a system of technologies that allow consumers to access traditional banking or financial services and products through the use of digital means and tools, such as apps, web platforms, software and the like.

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