On January 7, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (“ESAs“) (that is, the EBA, EIOPA and ESMA) published a report (JC 2018 74) on regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs.

The ESAs set out in the report a comparative analysis of the innovation facilitators established to date within the EU, further to the mandate specified in the European Commission’s FinTech action plan, which was published in March 2018.

In addition, the ESAs set out options to promote coordination and cooperation between innovation facilitators and support the scaling-up of FinTech across the EU. The options comprise of the development of joint ESA own-initiative guidance on cooperation and coordination between innovation facilitators, and the creation of an EU network to bridge innovation facilitators established at the member state level.

The ESAs also set out best practices regarding the design and operation of innovation facilitators, informed by the results of the comparative analysis and the experiences of the national competent authorities in running the facilitators. The best practices are intended to provide indicative support for competent authorities when considering the establishment of, or reviewing the operation of, innovation facilitators.

Annex A to the report sets out a list of existing regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs.

The ESAs will continue to monitor national developments regarding innovation facilitators and take such steps as are appropriate to promote an accommodative and common approach towards FinTech in the EU. In particular, the ESAs will explore the options available for enhancing cross-border coordination and cooperation between national innovation facilitators, in conjunction with the Commission’s and the ESAs’ further work on FinTech and define further steps, as appropriate, in 2019.