The research aims at empirically investigating whether a
correlation can be identified between the presence of payment institutions and
e-money institutions authorized in each Member State and the restrictiveness of
the supervisory practices of individual NCAs. In particular, the analysis is
aimed at ascertaining whether the same risks, same rules, same supervision
principle can be deemed to be fulfilled within the European payment services
sector and – if not – what countermeasures can be taken to re-establish
compliance with it.
Building on the data available in the Peer review on
authorizations under PSD2 Report published by the EBA, the research inspects
the impact of different supervisory policies – together with elements such as
the overall “FinTech friendliness” of the considered Member States – on the
amount of authorization granted in different Member States, and tries to
identify whether the different variables considered are likely to have an
impact in terms of potential supervisory arbitrage, henceforth reducing the
effectiveness of the harmonization interventions in the Single Market. This
will be functional to identify those areas in which procedural harmonization
might be advisable, as well as to pinpoint weaknesses in the level playing
field model, as it is currently implemented.