WASHINGTON, August 3, 2018—Aron Betru, managing director of the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets and Jackson Mueller, associate director of the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets and head of the FinTech program, issued the following statement on the release of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Fintech report:
“The recommendations from the U.S. Department of the Treasury in its latest report, ‘Nonbank Financials, Fintech, and Innovation,’ provide policymakers and regulators with the Administration’s perspective on financial innovation, including efforts to address persistent challenges related to offering innovative financial products and services in a complex, outdated, regulatory environment.
This report adds to the undercurrent of activity behind some of the recommendations offered in Treasury’s report. For instance, there are several bipartisan bills moving through Congress that address certain recommendations.
Beyond near-term implementation of recommendations requiring Congressional action, regulators are also implementing several proposed recommendations. The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is moving forward with its special purpose national bank charter for FinTech firms, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is establishing an innovation office, with a regulatory sandbox in the works.
In addition to these initial steps, concerted efforts engaging various stakeholders are needed to redefine and adapt our decades-old regulatory apparatus so that it adheres to, and is flexible enough, to address the ever-changing dynamics of the financial services industry.
The Milken Institute commends the effort put forth by Treasury in releasing this report. We are eager to examine the recommendations to assess how they foster the U.S. financial services ecosystem for the 21st Century and how they can address persistent socioeconomic challenges of financial inclusion, access to capital, and transparency and compliance.”
Since its launch in 2014, the Milken Institute FinTech program has been at the forefront of examining how government and industry should address financial innovations. As one of the first think tanks to explore this topic, the program has since produced nearly 100 written reports, blogs, op-eds, and comment letters, and hosted more than 70 private roundtables, public panel sessions, and congressional staff briefings covering FinTech. For more information, visit www.milkeninstitute.org/fintech