The appearance of new financial schemes, based on digital transformation and innovation has brought significant advances in access to credits. These new actors have produced changes and the Colombian financial system in recent years, with the aim of modernizing, being at the forefront of the world and being able to offer services more immediately for users.
These advances, however, must be accompanied with a regulation that allows them to exploit all the potential that modernization brings, which favors competition and has fair rules of play for all actors, as mentioned Ashobancaria In your report ‘Competition in the provision of innovative services and the importance of its balanced regulation’.
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“A competition market, where regulation contributes to balance, generates an environment of trust and improves efficiency, resulting in greater well -being for all participants involved, both from supply and demand“; mentions the main aggression of financial entities in the country.
As mentioned, This evolution has brought greater levels of access, efficiency and innovation, but it has also generated important challenges in regulation and competition.
Colombian financial system
Time
For example, Asobancaria affirms that the digitalization of financial services, accelerated by the pandemic, has allowed monitored entities to offer new alternatives to consumers; However, the entry of unmarked actors (mainly Fintech and alternative services suppliers) has configured a ‘gray zone scenario‘ in which different regulatory frameworks coexist. This diversity, according to the report, encourages competition, but also raises asymmetries that can affect market equity.
“In these terms, market opening should not be understood only as liberalization, but as a process that guarantees that all service providers comply with adequate standards of stability, solvency, safety and consumer protection. Therefore, the definition of the content and scope of the regulatory framework for the provision of financial products and services must be carried out with technical, prudential and progressive criteria, guaranteeing the positive impact on the market for both suppliers and consumers“says Asobancaria.
Regulations and free competition
The report stands out that The country has made important advances in the construction of a regulatory framework that seeks to balance innovation, competition and protection.
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Asobancaria highlighted the Decree 12978 of 2022which regulated open finances in Colombia, allowing access to data from monitored entities to expand the possibilities of innovation and competition.
He did the same with him National Development Plan of the current National Governmentexplaining that this introduced financial portability, which will allow consumers to move their financial products and information between entities, and open data, which will facilitate access to broader information for financial inclusion purposes.
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These instruments, as the guild mentions, reflects the global trend towards the interoperability of data and services, where information control passes to the consumer, empowering it and promoting greater competitive dynamism.
“(…) The harmonic collaboration of the authorities is essential, but also the technical dialogue with the entities to demonstrate technical and operational opportunities and challenges. In this regard, other latitudes can illustrate the way, preventing us from passing through already corrected, or at least evidenced failures, and take advantage of figures that facilitate implementation“, says Asobancaria.
Regulatory challenges and challenges
The report identifies several regulatory challenges of great relevance.
On the one hand, talk about regulatory asymmetriesexplaining that while the entities monitored must meet strict requirements for solvency and consumer protection, unmarked actors enjoy greater flexibility. This, according to the guild of financial entities, creates an unequal land that can affect competition and trust.
“From the consumer perspective, the diversity of regulatory regimes can have significant consequences. Many consumers are not clear who offers them the service, if that entity is regulated, what rights assist them or before which authority they must go in case of a claim. The situation is aggravated in the digital environment, where the line between the financial and the non -financial, or between the local and the cross -border, becomes diffuse“He explains.
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Immediate payments
Transfiya
Then speak of the Consumer misinformationmentioning that many users do not know if their supplier is regulated, what are their rights and what authority can go in case of claims. This lack of clarity is aggravated in digital and cross -border environments.
It also mentions that the Digitization Delete the borders between financial and non -financial servicesbecause he affirms that, currently a consumer can access an online loan, invest in virtual assets or authorize the use of their data to technological suppliers without fully knowing the risks.
As for the Data protectionAsobancaria explains in its report that the opening of information requires a new regulatory approach that combines security, privacy and free competition. The data becomes the central input of the market, and its adequate management is key to the confidence of the system.
The report also highlights the importance of observing international experiences, citing the examples of countries such as Brazil and Mexico, where, according to, specific regulatory frameworks for Fintech have been created, with figures such as payment institutions or technological financial companies.
Juan Martín Murillo Herrera
Portfolio journalist
