GAO Issues Report on Fragmented Fintech Regulatory System
Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report that addresses financial technology for payments, online lending, financial advice, and blockchain.
The report examined the risk/benefits of such technology, regulatory protections for users, efforts by regulators to oversee such technologies, challenges that the regulatory environment poses to fintechs, and efforts in other countries to encourage financial innovation.
The report concluded that the fragmented US regulatory environment presents challenges for fintech firms and that they have difficulty identifying the applicable laws and how their activities will be regulated. Overall, there is a need for greater interagency collaboration to address the challenges and opportunities of fintech.
The GAO makes a variety of recommendations – all of which call on the banking regulators, CFPB and FCC to establish innovation offices and to coordinate with one another on fintech regulation efforts. The full summary and report can be accessed here: https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-254
