The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today announced a new partnership with 11 financial regulators and related organizations around the globe aimed at creating a Global Financial Innovation Network. The network is intended to facilitate interactions between regulators and innovators as they seek scale and ubiquity for new technologies.
A joint document published by the agencies outlines the proposed functions of the GFIN, which include serving as a network for sharing experiences between countries, providing a forum for joint policy work and discussions and creating an environment in which firms can test cross-border solutions. The CFPB was the only U.S. financial agency signed on to the document.
“The major emerging innovation trends within financial services are increasingly global, rather than domestic, in nature,” the GFIN member agencies noted. “Financial services regulators must re-consider existing ways of working and collaborating, in order to balance potential benefits of innovation (for consumers and the financial sector as a whole) with traditional policy objectives, namely financial stability, integrity, financial inclusion, competition and consumer wellbeing and protection.”
The CFPB — as part of the larger working group — is seeking feedback on the consultation document. Comments are due by Oct. 14 and may be submitted through the bureau’s office of innovation.
