The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) and the Capital Market, Insurance, and Saving Authority (CMISA) have signed a FinTech collaboration MOU with the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA)
Anat Guetta ISA Chairwoman: “Technological developments are changing the world order in many areas. These technologies mainly make the public’s access to many sectors more efficient and reduce users’ costs. This is the direction in which I am leading the Israeli capital market. Israeli investors deserve the most advanced financial services in the world, and this is certainly true in the case of technologies that are developed locally. Promoting technological innovation is ones of the ISA’s strategic goals for the coming years. We are constantly studying how to adjust regulation in order to remove barriers for entrepreneurs seeking to create technology-based financial services for investors. Last year we signed a number of significant MOUs and joined the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN). These MOUs reflect significant confidence in the Israeli regulation, and establish high standards that also facilitate Israeli FinTech companies’ access to new markets.”
Dr. Moshe Bareket, CMISA Chair: “The Capital Market Authority has worked intensively in recent months to promote and regulate licensing of non-banking FinTech operations in Israel, including payment services and digital wallets, virtual coin service providers and blockchain developers, P2P companies, and credit companies. The Capital Market Authority is also actively working to reinforce these actors and ensure that the products they offer to the Israeli public are of adequate quality and subject to proper regulation that has been specifically adjusted to their unique area of operations. In recent months, the Capital Market Authority strengthened its international position as a leading regulator in these areas by joining international organizations, signing MOUs and collaboration agreements with other regulators around the world, participating in conferences and committees of the world’s leading forums on these issues, including the OECD, the IMF, and the GFIN. I am pleased with our successful collaboration with the Israeli Securities Authority and I am confident that the new MOU with HANFA will lead to a fruitful exchange of knowledge on FinTech that will benefit us and our Croatian colleagues.
The Israel Securities Authority and the Capital Market, Insurance, and Saving Authority jointly signed an MOU for collaboration on FinTech issues with the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA). The MOU was signed by Attorney Offir Eyal, Senior Advisor to ISA Chair and Director of the International Department of the ISA, and by Mr. Ante Žigman, Chair of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency. The MOU establishes the principles of cooperation and information sharing, with the aim of promoting and cultivating innovation in the financial service sector. The MOU will also allow entrepreneurs to offer innovative financial services in the appropriate financial markets with the support of the ISA and CMISA and give them access to the regulation applicable in both countries.
Both authorities consider MOUs with corresponding authorities worldwide as an important step toward expanding cooperation and knowledge sharing, and creating access to regulation for entrepreneurs seeking new global markets for their financial services. These MOUs also reinforce Israel’s status as an innovative, advanced center of FinTech.
Collaborations such as these will also serve to perfect regulation in this emerging sector that offers investors access to the financial world in an efficient manner and at reduced cost. The MOU with HANFA joins the series of agreements signed this year with New York, France, and Switzerland, and the ISA’s membership in the GFIN.
The MOU was signed during a European Committee session of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which took place on September 18-20 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The ISA is a member of this organization.
