Accelerating trends in digitization: Fintech’s progress in hungary and the world in the shadow of the global recession

Abstract

in our globalized world, competition has accelerated tremendously due to the abundance of oversupply. We are living in the days of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) surplus the economic crises, pandemics and war make our lives even more difficult. Due to COVID-19. our lifestyles and communications, our habits and working conditions have changed. The consumer habits have changed permanently, as we have turned to the digital space in all segments of our lives, which is well represented by the 22% increase in the number of digital interactions in 2021 (MNB, 2022). In 2020, Industry 4.0 and the pandemic, among others, caused a so-called a “digitalization turn” whose impact has greatly accelerated the demand for digital developments in all sectors, especially in the field of finance. While the euro area GDP contracted by 6.6% in 2020 due to the epidemic (ECB 2022), FinTech (Financial Technology) companies, they could post a profit. In the United States, in 2021, the rate of return on international investment in the payments sector ended with a record. At the global level the volume of venture capital investment is growing significantly, driven by the continued acceleration and use of digital and contactless payments and the growing demand for alternative payment models. Trading in cryptographic assets based on the revival of blockchain technology, digital central bank money (DBJP) and the emergence of new funds with the “tokenization” of other financial instruments has generated record profits. (KPMG, 2022.). Money and the related service sector have undergone tremendous change since we came from the first shells to the emergence of digital central bank money, or cryptocurrencies. Using artificial intelligence (AI) based self-learning algorithms, robot advisors and chatbot applications provide complex financial assistant services and perform intelligent customer profiling or portfolio management. “Neobanks” already offer a full range of financial services with biometric identification to help protect and secure personal information. One of the world’s largest credit card companies has begun building a global technology system (“biometric checkout program”) that will allow us to pay for our purchases with a fingerprint or even a smile without a wallet or phone. The economic ecosystem is undergoing a lasting and irreversible transformation. New business strategies are needed for a successful digital switchover, and the use of revolutionary technologies is essential to keep the companies competitive. Development is driven by innovation, and the creative innovators in financial technology are “FinTech” businesses. The key to a successful future is digitalization and the controlled and secure application and availability of new technologies to economic actors. National and international cooperation between regulators can only ensure that the activities of new financial service providers comply with both data protection, consumer protection and prudential regulatory requirements, given the specific nature of cross-border activities. Hungary and the European Union, and even global cooperation, are needed to develop effective, coordinated digital strategies, build common data repositories and access routes, enhance cyber security, and operate controlled channels of cash flow. We accept that the challenges of the future in the financial sector are also for the digital switchover therefore it is necessary here to focus our resources on sustainable stable development.

Introduction

the history of financial innovation dates back several millennia, as it coincides with the advent of money. Whether innovations are products, processes, institutions or organizational processes, their simultaneous interconnection, whether in technical or financial terms, has been used to adapt to changed circumstances due to the development of humankind. (Botos, 2012.). The peculiarities of financial innovations – which our history has proven countless times – are that they are spreading relatively quickly at the consumer level and are usually important choices in our lives (investing, saving for retirement, buying a home, daily financial transactions, etc.). However, some innovations are triggering an innovation spiral whose impact is extremely difficult to assess, especially in advance. Digitalization, global competition, ownership expectations have generated ever-increasing return expectations in the ever-growing economy. Market volatility and the daily emergence of new technologies have so far put constant pressure on financial sector players to remain competitive. How can you still gain a lasting competitive advantage in this situation? The key is innovation and knowledge.

Today, we are experiencing the explosive development of digital innovative financial processes, which is an essential condition for ensuring sustainable development and competitiveness. The general consequences of the increase in competition are the decrease in the profits of traditional market participants and the oligopolization of the previously monopoly money creation through new players in the financial sector.

In addition to developing their existing product portfolio, the traditional banks need continuous innovation to retain their customers and maintain their stability. Until the 2000s, the banking sector took the lead in applying innovations. Before the economic crises, the abundance of money motivated the actors. The basic business model of banks is the collection of deposits and the provision of credit, thus performing a key economic function of financial intermediaries: the conversion of deposits (savings) into credit (investments), which involves the transformation of liquidity, maturity, and credit risk. However, during the crises, the “servicing” of the remaining customer base and the retention of assets and the restoration of losses became a primary task, at which time a comprehensive banking arsenal served to enable the financial system to resume its original functions in 5-6 years. Mitigating the damage caused by negative economic shocks has been a key element in banking strategies (De Grauwe, 2008), which has diverted energies from innovation and development. Recognizing the market gap created by temporarily paralyzed classical banking and credit institutions, financial service providers operating outside the classical banking and credit institutions sector have strengthened over the past decade. As a result of the “digital revolution”, the comprehensive digital transformation of organizations has become a strategic factor in both external interactions and internal operations.

Innovative financial companies, fintech in the main role

we can say that despite the losses in the world, the youngest “startup” FinTech companies in the financial sector and at the forefront of innovation in the last two years can be considered one of the winners in the dramatic situation both in Hungary and globally.

FinTech is defined by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) as “Technology-driven innovation in financial services that can result in new business models, applications, processes or products that have a significant impact on the provision of financial services” (Abassuni, P. et al.,).

The emergence of FinTech companies can be attributed to the economic crises that hit the banking system in succession in 2008 and 2011, followed by the digitalisation wave of the fourth industrial revolution. Until then, the banking sector’s expanded product range over the decades has naturally attracted new market competitors to the battlefield. The crises and the subsequent strict sanctions and regulatory framework for the traditional financial and credit sector have diverted capacities and resources from previously key innovation activities, providing them with both the opportunity and challenge of the fresh, creative innovation capacity of the FinTech industry. The positive thing for banks is that it motivates them to reduce costs and expand and develop the range of services. The human capital and technology of the bank will be renewed, the need for innovation developments will increase, the number of bank employees and banks will decrease, and the quality and speed of services will accelerate intensively.

What are the conditions supporting the establishment of FinTech companies?

• start-ups are usually simple and relatively barrier-free due to their novelty,
• relatively low capital requirements are required to get started,
• high traffic and fast payback in a short time,
• high demand generates significant revenues,
• social openness to modern digital technology solutions,
• changing consumer habits, becoming common in the home office,
• loose regulation (non-financial institution requirements system, non-uniform regulation).

In highly developed countries and among young people (Y., Z., and Alpha generations), the capacity to develop – and then apply – digital technologies is extremely high, which is also the basis for the successful implementation of financial innovations. FinTech’s can be located at different points in the financial intermediation chain. They usually provide specialized services that either improve efficiency or provide a better customer experience. (IMF, 2022.) These innovations often change our user habits, but their application can also have new, unexpected consequences. Our experiences, positive or possibly negative externalities, can often only be accurately detected over a long period of time, increasing risks (eg prudential requirements, leverage security, over-lending risk, etc.).

Financial innovation in the world of digital services

the growth of “FinTech” innovations and the innovative digital processes and technologies required for their application is unstoppable, while ensuring the continuous stability of the financial system is a basic requirement. Therefore, reviewing our experience so far, it is definitely timely to map and monitor financial innovations and to identify negative risks, and then to regulate their operation.

Microsoft’s chief executive said in a report that 37 percent of the growing Generation Y is already a customer of non-traditional banks, as it is better for them to be able to manage their finances in one app as well. Digitization and cloud solutions have enabled fintech service providers to meet the needs of a wide variety of needs, while in the background, the cloud is helping almost every industry to take advantage of artificial intelligence, machine learning, or even business analytics. The entry threshold for state – of – the – art technologies has been significantly lower (Mattheisen, 2020).

With the help of artificial intelligence (AI) -based self-learning algorithms, systems can process natural languages and machine-based control of corporate customer communications without human intervention. AI also helps with intelligent customer profiling or portfolio management, which previously required significant human capital investment. The work of banking advisors and experts is also taken over by robot advisors and chatbot applications and complex financial assistant services by AI-based customer services. It is not uncommon for risk management and fraud prevention tasks to be performed with software solutions in financial and credit operations. For “neobanks,” that is, banks operating without a physical branch, the fact that millions of people were physically restricted in their movements by government measures meant an unprecedented “opportunity” to break into the market (see Figure 1).

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is perfect for automating tasks such as information compression or transaction management. Advanced digital solutions require extensive databases, BigData and cloud-based services – a strength of BigTech companies. In addition to their core business, these “Tech Giants” also perform cash flow, lending, and other banking activities at the same time, which raises several regulatory and tax, data protection and consumer protection concerns. Just think of the invaluable power and influence of Google, Amazon, or Facebook in our digital world. With the “Plug & Play” boxed solutions of financial services, new competitors are entering the market of banking and credit service providers, which have traditionally been strictly controlled, even at low costs. The well-known field of application of “Block Chain Technology” is the market for cryptographic devices, but the “tokenization” of financial instruments has generally widened the scope of use. With the proliferation of blockchain-based infrastructures, faster and more secure settlement of financial transactions, control of their fulfillment and the so-called the use of „smart contracts”. In addition to the distribution of cryptocurrencies, businesses have also undergone tremendous development since 2013 with Distributed General Ledger Technologies (DLT) and RegTech (collectively, Regulatory Technologies, a collective name for regulatory compliance digital technologies). (Sárközy et al., 2022)

Figure 1. Innovations applied by fintech companies (%)

Source: Csiszárik-Kocsir (2019)

Figure 2. Digital Economy and Indicators, 2021

Source: DESI 2021, European Commission.

Figure 3. DESI indicator (EU 2021)

Source: European Commission, DESI report (2021)

Figure 4. DESI Indicator, Integrating Digital Technologies (EU 2021)

Source: European Commission, DESI Report (2021)

Strategic guidelines for development

considering the recommendations of the European Commission’s FinTech Action Plan, strategic guidelines supporting specific Hungarian action programs have been issued in Hungary in recent years: the Hungary FinTech Strategy (2019-2022) has been completed, the Hungarian National Bank’s FinTech strategy the Hungarian Banking Association has also compiled its proposals.

Reviewing the focal points of the completed strategies, the development of a reliable digital customer identification system (preferably using nationally standardized) (even using biometric identifiers) calls for the elimination of basic paper-based requirements for financial services and the need for a uniform, technology-neutral regulatory framework at both EU and national level. The development and widest possible availability of a cyber defense test system is a commonly defined basic requirement (see Innovation Hub, Operation of Regulatory Sandboxes).
Hungary’s „fintech” strategy and the impact assessment of the desi and dfi indicators
Hungary’s FinTech strategy (2019) defines the milestones of development based on the “Strategy for the Digitalization of the Hungarian Financial Sector (2019-2022)”: competence, technology, business innovation and regulation. Later, we will discuss some of the measures proposed for technology (central developments and new technologies in the public sector), business innovation (supportive environment, facilitation of cashless payments) and regulation (measures to promote innovation and consumer safety) and their implementation.

Competence is the basis for a skilled workforce (human capital), digital financial awareness, up-to-date curriculum, and well-trained educators.

The digital development of society greatly determines the framework for the development of competences and sets the focus for the future for both the single EU and individual Member States. The European Commission has also been evaluating Member States’ performance in the digital economy through its annual surveys using the Digital Indicator of Digital Development (DESI) since 2014 and publishing the results of the Digital Economy and Indicators (see Figure 2).

Based on the value of DESI in 2021, Hungary ranks 23rd among the 27 EU member states. (Figure 2) The country’s performance has improved over the past few years, broadly in line with the EU average. (European Commission, DESI Report 2021).

The DESI study is also based on four main pillars: digital infrastructure, digital competence, digital economy, and digital state. In assessing Hungary’s performance, the analysis concludes that it is one of the worst performing countries in terms of the five most important indicators. Only in broadband access does the country perform above average (see Figure 3). It ranks 22nd in human capital, with other indicators showing a relatively low level of digital skills. Residents ’basic financial literacy and basic digital competencies are examined at different levels of the school system. The development of digital skills is decisive in terms of development potential – here the EU average is 56% – only 49% of Hungarians have at least basic digital skills.

The development of digital competencies is therefore an urgent task at both retail and company level, as evidenced by the indicators in the DESI report. Raising financial awareness is needed from an early age. Professional training and digitally highly qualified youth education draws attention to the importance of the modern education system – its possible shortcomings -. For example, Digital Competence Development, supported by the European Social Fund, is one of the flagship projects to improve digital education.

Regarding the Technology and Innovation pillars, the most challenging dimension of DESI for Hungary remains the corporate integration of digital technologies and digital public services. Only 46% of SMEs have the lowest level of basic digital literacy, well below the EU average of 60%, and the uptake of advanced digital technologies (large data sets, artificial intelligence, and cloud) is low. For example, the relatively low digital development of the Hungarian financial system (we are thinking here of the internal systems) significantly makes the operation of the banking sector significantly more expensive in international comparison, thus causing a competitive disadvantage for domestic banks.

Integration of digital technologies 2016-21. compared to the EU-27 (see Figure 4). Successful implementation and integration of technologies is key, in the absence of which new applications are incorporated into the operation of organizations with little or no efficiency. Its development is closely linked to human capital training, the development of the education system and in-house training.

To assess the level of development of the Hungarian payment ecosystem, Mastercard has also developed a digital payment index (DFI) measurement method based on its own research, in which Hungary achieved 51 points out of 100 in 2020. This complex indicator was calculated from the points of three basic pillars: Infrastructure (result 64 points), Knowledge (result 51 points) and Usage (result 38 points). In the case of Hungary, this survey also confirms that although there are sufficient funds for digital payments, the digitization of the population and merchants and the introduction of new payment technologies can lead to significant improvements, which require intensive industry innovation and a supportive regulatory environment. The level of knowledge of consumers – within the basic pillar of Knowledge – in the case of Hungary shows that the expected level of attitude towards digital payments and the skills required to use them are also at an acceptable level. By increasing the general level of knowledge and awareness and educating the population about the benefits of cashless payments, we can develop a lot on it in the future, which by its nature is a somewhat more time-consuming task. Cashless payment solutions can be used to effectively stimulate the process, among other things, by expanding the regular income to the account and the use of the card. The Usage Sub-Index received the lowest score in the research – which is in line with the results mentioned earlier – an improvement in the other two indicators will naturally improve the results here as well (Mastercard, 2020).

Promoting a cash-free society and transparent economic processes are also overall strategic objectives of the EU. Electronic transactions between public institutions and municipalities and the electronic processing of payments to employees also facilitate a “digital welfare” approach. If we can increase the number of cards accepting locations, we would be making a big step towards achieving a cash-free economy by making it compulsory, even with secure annual payments, above a certain annual sales revenue.

Hungary ranks 26th in the integration of digital technologies into corporate activities (See Chart 1). According to most technological indicators, Hungarian companies perform below the EU average. (See Chart 1) 14% of businesses have an integrated (corporate governance) system for electronic information exchange (EU average more than double 36%) The use of electronic invoices remains low (13%); participation in social media (12%), large data sets (7%), the use of cloud services (17%) and artificial intelligence (17%) and the online sales performance of SMEs are also far below the EU average. (DESI 2021). By studying the results of the study, the goals can be well articulated at both micro and macro levels.

In Hungary, we are witnessing the advancement of the fintech sector in the areas of financial software development and systems integration, payment services, data analysis and storage, and business intelligence – also as a primarily B2B service provider – or as partners of incumbents. In 2021, 130 companies were registered, which are engaged in “FinTech” activities. Regarding Hungary, the above indicators and studies confirm the urgency of catching up, as the volume of Fintech’s venture capital investments in the Americas reached a record in 2020 and the number of FinTech companies almost tripled in Europe (2013-2020) and the trend continues unabated (Sárközy et al., 2022).

By placing the focus on areas that are lagging, the task is to develop clear action programs, and implementation must begin immediately, because progress is unstoppable and progressing faster and faster. To harmonize systems in different parts of the world, efficient knowledge transfer is needed, the construction of fintech bridges for the mutual benefit of the parties.

Chart 1: DESI indicator (EU 2021)

Source: European Commission, DESI report (2021)

Figure 5. Fintech bridges UK

Source: Furber, 2020

INTERNATIONAL FINTECH BRIDGES

The international cooperation of FinTech players, both nationally and internationally, is one of the cornerstones of the business innovation pillar. An excellent international example is that already in 2016, the United Kingdom and Singapore were among the first to sign an agreement to create a new “FinTech Bridge”, which was further expanded by the parties on 21 March 2018. (Monetary Authority of Singapore 2022.) Under the agreement, the parties will mutually assist British FinTech companies and investors in gaining access to the Asian market and expanding into Singapore, as well as attracting Singapore FinTech companies and investors to the United Kingdom. Over the past period, these fruitful collaborations have been intensively expanded by the UK ever since, thus exploiting the competitive advantage inherent in knowledge transfer (see Figure 5).

The UK has been one of the world leaders in FinTech ever since; FinTech companies in the UK already generated 7bn £ in revenue each year, employed more than 61,000 people and attracted 1.3bn £ in investment in 2017. It has been assessed over time that the strength of the sector comes from supporting the world’s leading talent, a progressive regulatory environment and a government focused on competition in financial services.

A pioneering initiative from within the country is that Hungary launched the National Laboratories Program in 2020 to implement joint innovation development. The main goal of the program is to bring together research institutes, universities, and industry in each field of research, as well as to provide future-oriented technologies that Hungarian research institutes can use to implement world-class research and innovation programs. (Source: National Office for Research and Development and Innovation, 2021).

Changed market environment: amazonation and bigtech giant

We can state that the phenomenon referred to in the literature as “amazonization” for years also appears on the financial markets and unifies financial services and their supply and pricing.

BigTech companies are further increasing their influence. They gain huge, difficult-to-control influence in the financial services market (including service companies, payment, lending, and other banking activities) and have several dedicated users and their data that dominate global markets. By building a ‘platform strategy’. These technical giants are owners of lifestyle databases that are a wealth of wealth filled with consumer preferences and buying habits, and are increasingly penetrating the credit market, for example, offering more favorable conditions as they can cover part of their costs with other (commercial) activities. structure. For banks, this data asset is also an unimportant competitive disadvantage. They can cover the entire financial value chain, even without the use of external service providers. By running advanced AI algorithms, they can set up customer profiles on their databases that support the sale of financial products with extremely well-targeted and cost-effective campaigns with a low error rate. They have sufficient capital, knowledge, experience, and economic independence to have a significant impact on the functioning of the traditional financial sector. If a country’s economic ecosystem and regulators are not sufficiently prepared to receive these multinational giants, they will take the benefit of the country out of that country. FinTech Unicorns (we call unicorns private, and therefore not yet listed, companies with a company valuation of up to $ 1 billion), numbering more than 900 worldwide.

Covid-19 develops fintech with even more movement

2021 was the record year for venture capital investments and market acquisitions in the fintech zone.

As mentioned earlier, apart from digital lending, FinTech businesses expanded their customer base during the pandemic and introduced new developments extremely effectively, taking advantage of the losses and austerity measures facing traditional operators in a difficult economic environment (See Figure 6). However, they have strengthened significantly in all other service sectors (especially in the custody and cryptographic markets).

Figure 6. Changes in the volume of transactions for certain types of fintech services

Source: Hungarian National Bank, MNB (2022)

Defi as an exclusive investment

In the evolution of financial innovation, with the proliferation of DeFi’s exclusive investment services, even more innovative financial services are available. DeFi is a cryptographic market-based financial intermediary in which all financial transactions take place on a computer network without a central intermediary, allowing exclusive investments, and its spread in the Americas is more relevant.)

In Figure 7, panel 1, we have seen an upward trend in S&P Global Market Intelligence since 2013; and IMF calculations. The sample consists of 13 developed economies and 7 emerging market economies. In Panel 2, the total face value of decentralized financing (DeFi) is the total value of all DeFi projects (all deposits and control tokens stored on a given platform in the Ethereum blockchain, as reported by DeFi Pulse.) despite an unfavorable economic environment over two years (See Figure 7, Panel 2). However, it is important to note that the DeFi activity, which is currently dominant even in the cryptographic market, greatly increases cyber risks, may facilitate the accumulation of leverage, and involves fundamental systemic risk.

(Stable coin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value relative to a particular asset or set of assets. USDC = USD Coin; USDT = Tether.).

For an overview of the volume of global business activity between the two companies, the following KPMG analysis illustrates that the outstanding growth of fintech companies can also be attributed to the pandemic and beyond. The numbers once again reflect the benefits of the digital lifestyle for new online digital investments in the financial sector (see Figure 8).

The research cited so far in this study all clearly supports the fact that the explosive development of financial technology and the companies based on it can perform effectively and with high returns even in the extremely unfavorable and uncertain economic environment caused by crises. However, from a regulatory, data protection, consumer protection and cybersecurity point of view, they raise several issues and concerns that are the responsibility of regulators (legislators, public super­visors).

Figure 7. Volume of activity of traditional and other banks (2013-21)

Source: IMF (2022)

Figure 8. Global corporate activity in FinTech 2018-21

Source: KPMG (2021)

International and hungarian regulatory anomalies and challenges

The task of regulation, as an integral part of our changing lifestyle, is to create a secure system of services that is expanding daily, which is a complex task that requires international cooperation, state supervisors, national banks, international organizations (IMF, EU, World Bank, BIS, etc.).

The problem is that these underlying systems are becoming less transparent than traditional intermediaries, while even relatively small startups or young Fintech companies can grow extremely fast in often riskier business segments and in a form that is easily accessible to riskier customers. potential privacy risks from customers.

During the development of financial services, the primary goal is to serve the changing customer habits and needs and to provide a higher customer experience. The task of regulation (legislators, supervisors) is to support the operation of technological innovations while ensuring a level playing field, considering data protection and consumer protection aspects. International activities (cross-border activities) require harmonized regulation at international level. Spontaneous market processes are not able to exercise adequate control, only supervisors are able to effectively mitigate the risks to service users while supporting positive effects. These new types of risks anticipate systemic risks for traditional banks. Maintaining competitiveness and financial stability require regulation that strikes a balance between these two interests, creating a regulatory arbitrage and asymmetry (Müller-Kerényi, 2021.) In addition to tightening traditional banking operations, the freedom of the Fintech sector must be maintained. While customer deposits with banks have been mobilized with payment services and innovative digital technologies, even with cross-border operations, while traditional banks have borne the cost of safe deposit management, with low costs and low service fees for Fintech businesses. Traditional banks naturally react more slowly at first due to the regulatory environment and their inertia. the aim of the regulation is to prevent companies specializing in financial innovation from gaining more market share than desired. The issue of taxation is also on the agenda for the digital giants. The general principle of taxing income where it is physically generated needs to be rethought, as in the data economy, income is generated primarily where multiple connections are maintained through the digital channels of an online business.

The position of international financial institutions “principle of equal regulation of the same activities” therefore arose the need for harmonized international regulation, which has been emphasized by the IMF (IMF 2018.) And the World Bank for many years.

At both international and domestic level, the main question is what should we regulate? Consciousness took place in 2015. By the end of the last decade, the IMF’s recommendations on the subject will be issued for the first time. Financial services, which are faster and much easier to access, are also disrupting traditional financial processes. It is impossible to ban initially restrictive and subversive solutions, so their benefits must be reaped while reducing risks. The real risk is the spread of cybercrime, there are data protection gaps, and investment protection and data protection are essential requirements. Competitive advantage in the hitherto tightly regulated financial market for new alternative providers is that they do not pay transaction fees – or other taxes – do not have an expensive branch network, operate only profitable services, do not have banking supervision controls, or do not have enhanced security standards.

There is a need to reach a common position on several issues: “So how do we need to change the new operating conditions on the part of regulators? Should the operating conditions of traditional banks be eased, perhaps? To tighten the operation of FinTech companies? Which issues remain within national competence that require uniform international or minimum EU regulation?” to name just a few.

In 2020, the data strategy for the digital future of the EU was published in the so-called The White Paper, which sets out to create a single European data space, focuses on the regulation of digital services, with the main aim of preventing unfair market behavior. The European Union’s experts have been visioning for years to create a single European digital financial marketplace that will allow future sales of financial products to players in a transparent and comparable way.

In addition to the regulation, the expert proposals of the Hungarian Banking Association also include proposals for the proper operation of the system, such as the rationalization of banking operating costs, the expansion of digital payment solutions to reduce the use of cash, and the expansion and use of digital lending and administration services. the widest possible expansion of educational opportunities, including digital finance (Becsei et al., 2019). The abolition of financial transaction fees in the banking sector would support a level playing field between financial service providers and traditional banks, which has emerged as a proposal on several platforms from the outset.

Conclusion

The rapid development of financial technology is bringing structural changes in the financial sector. In such strongly changing environment, overly prescriptive yet superficial regulation can have undesirable effects. At the same time, there is a risk that failure to update policy and regulatory frameworks will put EU and global financial service providers at a disadvantage in an increasingly globalized market. It is also possible, for example in the case of cybersecurity, that key risks remain unaddressed. This Financial Technology Action Plan includes measures to support the deployment of financial technology solutions as well as proactive measures to address emerging risks and challenges in a strong way, while supporting and encouraging new solutions. In this topic, we have developed plans for further efforts to support, systematize and, if possible, encourage innovation in the financial sector, in Fintech’s Advancement in Hungary and in the World (in the shadow of the global recession), in the course of which it intends to maintain financial stability. and a high level of investor and consumer protection.The plan is an important pillar of a comprehensive regulatory approach to the post-crisis environment. It has three objectives: to exploit rapid technological development for the benefit of the domestic and global economy, its citizens and industry, and to foster a more competitive and innovative financial sector and ensuring the integrity of the domestic and global financial system.

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Helga Sárközy, PhD student
Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences (MATE) Doctoral School of Economics and Regional Sciences, Hungary, Gödöllő

Katalin Balog, PhD candidate
Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences (MATE) Doctoral School of Economics and Regional Sciences, Hungary, Gödöllő

Dr. Singh Mahesh Kumar, Professor
Amsterdam Business School University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands