FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Olli Kiuru, Jere Lehtimäki and Essi Hietaoja, Waselius
FIN-FSA The most prominent national authority for the super - vision of Finland’s financial and insurance sectors is the FIN-FSA, which supervises the following entities, among others: • banks; • payment institutions; • crowdfunding companies; • crypto-asset service providers; • insurance and pension companies, as well as other companies operating in the insurance sector; • investment firms; • fund management companies; and • the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The FIN-FSA is also responsible for promoting com - pliance with good practice in financial markets and for disseminating general knowledge about the mar - kets. It is regulated by the Finnish Act on the Financial Supervisory Authority (878/2008). Supervision of traders who provide consumer credit and brokers of P2P loans was transferred from the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland to the FIN-FSA on 1 July 2023. Following the national implementation of Directive (EU) 2023/2225 on credit agreements for consumers (CCD2), all supervised entities of the FIN-FSA that grant con - sumer credit, excluding credit institutions and pay - ment institutions where the payment institution grants credit related to payment services, must register as consumer credit providers or consumer credit inter - mediaries with the FIN-FSA by 20 November 2026 at the latest. The Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland The Regional State Administrative Agency for South - ern Finland is responsible for lower-level supervision of the financial sector (ie, supervision that is not within the scope of the FIN-FSA), such as debt collection. The Regional State Administrative Agencies are gov - erned by the Finnish Act on Regional State Adminis - trative Agencies (896/2009).
tion or notification. Authorities granting authorisations include the European Central Bank, the FIN-FSA, the Regional State Administrative Agency, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, as well as the government. 2.3 Compensation Models The different compensation models vary widely depending on the chosen business model and the technical means through which the products and services are offered. Generally, when targeting the consumer, the Finnish Consumer Protection Act (CPA, 38/1978) and the sector-specific legislation set a tight regulatory framework regarding the disclosure rules. 2.4 Variations Between the Regulation of Fintech and Legacy Players On a general level, regulation between fintech com - panies and legacy players, such as banks, does not differ due to the fact that no specific regulation applies to fintech companies. Instead, fintech companies are governed under the same financial regulatory require - ments that apply to legacy players, depending on the scope of their operations and the types of services they provide. Naturally, the principle of proportionality will be applied and this generally serves in favour of Finland does not have a regulatory sandbox. The Finnish legislation does not allow regulators to grant exemptions from peremptory regulation, so any poten - tial and forthcoming regulatory sandboxes would need to be assembled via legislation. However, the FIN-FSA has a Fintech Helpdesk service that enables fintech companies to approach the FIN-FSA with their licens - ing questions. Through these channels, fintech com - panies can easily and promptly receive (non-binding) advice as to whether their business or services meet the licensing requirements. 2.6 Jurisdiction of Regulators Finnish Regulators Regulatory jurisdiction in the Finnish financial sector is split across four authorities. smaller fintech companies. 2.5 Regulatory Sandbox
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