EU Finance Ministers To Meet To Find Ways To Lure FinTechs

European Union (EU) finance ministers are gearing up to hold talks next week centered on finding ways to lure more FinTech companies their way, reported Reuters.

Citing documents it had viewed, Reuters reported the talks aim to get more FinTech companies in the U.K. region, especially as the U.K. represents the main FinTech market in Europe and is leaving the EU. The FinTech market in the EU is small compared to that of China and the U.S., reported Reuters, noting much of it is focused in Britain, which will be leaving the bloc in 2019.

The meeting will be held in Tallinn, the Estonian capital. The finance ministers are expected to discuss methods for attracting additional FinTech firms and encourage expansion across borders for existing FinTech companies.

Some of the talks will focus on rule changes and ways to grow the U.K.’s share of the market. According to Reuters, the Chinese FinTech market was valued at $102 billion in 2015 and the FinTech market in the U.S. was valued around $36 billion. The EU FinTech market, by comparison, is valued at $6 billion and is growing at a slower rate than its counterparts, reported Reuters.

In the EU, greater than 80 percent of the FinTech market is located in the U.K., with businesses in that area seeing a faster growth rate than in the EU. Some businesses could move to the EU after the U.K. leaves, noted the report. Reuters also stated regulators in the EU want to have the right approach when it comes to regulating FinTechs so as not to turn such companies off.

One idea being floated is coordinated regulation among all the EU countries and encouraging expansion across national borders. If there is a divergence of regulations and supervision from one member country to the next, it could hurt the development of a single market that is functioning well, noted the report.