Deputy chair of Fecif (Federation of European Advisers and Intermediaries) Jiří Šindelář has argued that the industry has developed “Stockholm Syndrome” with regulators over calls to more tightly regulate fintech firms.
He said advisers were wrong to argue for fintechs’ “competitive advantage bypassing (ie ignoring) extensive regulation covering financial services” to be curbed.
Instead, he said, they should behave more like a fintech and expect lighter regulation.
“We have to fundamentally change our approach and request the demolition of the absurd regulation in the first place,” he said. “A level playing field with fintechs lies in the liberal market, not the over-regulated one.
“Of course, for some the protection of high barriers to entry might be convenient. But it is a protection that fintechs have shown us is illusory. This is not meant negatively towards fintechs, it is solely our problem.
“A free market and limited regulation; that is what we should stand for. For our business, industry and, finally, our customers.”
Šindelář has been a long term vocal critic of the European regulatory regime which he says threatens to decimate industry and exacerbate the advice gap.
