Brussels, March 31, 2025: Joint EU FinTech letter on a way forward for FIDA
ETPPA has co-signed a joint EU FinTech industry letter to the European Commission, Council of the European Union, and European Parliament, on a way forward for the proposed EU regulation on Financial Data Access (FIDA).
Whilst we are aware that there has been considerable push back by incumbents, against the FIDA Regulation, this comes as no surprise and is a repeat of similar arguments raised by incumbents when PSD2 was proposed to level the playing field and increase competition in the payment services landscape. Under no circumstances, would we see a withdrawal of FIDA being necessary or beneficial for the competitiveness of the EU. EU FinTechs/TPPs/FISPs hold the potential for increasing financial literacy in Europe and increasing Europe’s competitiveness. It is time that people take control of their data and be better informed and equipped for their financial future.
The letter suggests three areas where targeted adjustments could be made to FIDA, during trilogue negotiations.
1. Taking a more customer centric approach: FIDA’s primary focus should be enabling customers to take control over their data so that they can access and re-use it as they see fit, thereby allowing access to a wider range of competitive and innovative services across Europe and beyond the products and services offered by incumbent data holders.
2. Giving customers continuous access to their data with a user interface: Many, if not most, financial service providers are already providing 24x7 access to all their customers and the time has come to enforce this on the rest. Customers should be able to access and retrieve their data remotely on an ongoing basis, which means that all financial data holders should be obliged to provide at least one (online or mobile and preferably API-based) customer interface, which is accessible at any time.
3. Differentiate clearly between “data re-use” and “data sharing”: The key term here is ‘access’, not ‘sharing’, in order to enable customers to re-use their data and allow FinTechs to provide value-added services without any loss of confidentiality. FIDA should first and foremost enable customers to take control over their data so that they can access and re-use it as they see fit - with or without third party assistance.
The letter was co-signed by ETPPA, together with the Spanish Association for Fintech and Insurtech (AEFI), the French Association of Payment and Electronic Money Institutions (AFEPAME), the European Digital Finance Association (EDFA), the Electronic Money Association (EMA), France FinTech, Free Insurance Data Initiative (FRIDA), PSD2 Software Industry Group (PSD2SIG), and the Swedish FinTech Association.
Click here to read the full joint letter.