IT - Adoption of the Decree implementing the Italian regulatory sandbox

12/09/2021

On 17 July 2021, the FinTech Committee and the regulatory sandbox for digitizing Italian financial services have been launched.

This launch follows the publication on July 2, 2021 of the decree of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance of April 30, 2021 setting the criteria for testing FinTech initiatives in a sandbox environment and the establishment of a FinTech Committee. The regulatory sandbox is a controlled environment in which traditional and FinTech operators will be able to test technologically innovative products and services under a transitional simplified regime, in constant dialogue and confrontation with the supervisory authorities. The proposed testing period for any admitted project has a maximum duration of 18 months, which may be extended upon request of the applicant. In addition, the Sandbox Decree lays down the operational guidelines of the Fintech Committee, which will be responsible for observing and monitoring the fintech evolution to then define goals, programs and implementing actions for promoting the development of techno-finance, as well as for facilitating contacts and exchange of information between fintech operators and authorities.