In order to prepare the new digital finance strategy for the EU, the European Commission organised the Digital Finance Outreach 2020 (DFO). The DFO was a series of events organised in collaboration with Member States from February to June 2020. Because of the pandemic, most events took place online.

Gathering feedback

The main purpose of this initiative was for the Commission to gather as many views as possible in the area of Fintech and digital innovation in the financial sector. The Commission had also launched a consultation for a digital finance strategy in April 2020, and two more specific ones – on crypto-assets and digital operational resilience of the financial sector – in December 2019. The views gathered from the events and the consultations lay the ground for a new digital finance strategy in the EU, to be published early autumn.

These events were a great opportunity for key stakeholders in digital finance from across the EU to gather and discuss the challenges they are facing as well as some of the best practices being put into practice at national level. The DFO was also an opportunity to increase collaboration between EU fintech hubs, in line with one of the Commission’s key priorities – that of creating a single market for digital finance.

The discussion topics in the events that were organised at national level focused on three main issues:

• A digital single market for financial services
• Promoting a more data-driven financial sector
• Ensuring a technology-neutral and innovation-friendly regulatory framework

The Commission’s online roundtable discussions, organised in Brussels in parallel with the national events, included topics such as digital finance and coronavirus, an EU digital single market for financial services, open finance, the EU regulatory framework for digital finance, crypto-assets, digital operational resilience and other issues.

Closing event

At the end of June, the Commission organised the DFO online closing conference in Brussels. Its main goal was to sum up and discuss the key takeaways gathered throughout the national events. The conference brought together people from various different backgrounds: EU policy makers, stakeholders from the digital finance sector, national rapporteurs from the main DFO events, MEPs such as Eva Kaili, Markus Ferber, Ondrej Kovarik, the Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (FISMA) of the Commission John Berrigan, European Banking Authority (EBA) Chair José Manuel Campa, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority’s (EIOPA) Chair Gabriel Bernardino and representatives from the German Federal Ministry of Finance. The journalist John Rega from Politico moderated the discussions. The DFO events gathered in total more than 3,000 participants.

The Commission will maintain the communication channels established during the DFO, to keep abreast of future national developments and receive feedback on its upcoming digital finance policies for the next five years. Furthermore, it will organise follow-up events in the autumn, around the announcement of the digital finance strategy.