FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Olli Kiuru, Mia Rintasalo and Essi Hietaoja, Waselius
2.5 Regulatory Sandbox Finland does not have a regulatory sandbox. The Finnish legislation does not allow regulators to grant exemptions from peremptory regulation, so any potential and forthcoming regulatory sandboxes would need to be assembled via legislation. However, the FIN-FSA has a Fintech Helpdesk service that enables fintech compa - nies to approach the FIN-FSA with their licens - ing questions. Through these channels, fintech companies can easily and promptly receive (non- binding) advice as to whether their business or services meet the licensing requirements. 2.6 Jurisdiction of Regulators Regulatory jurisdiction in the Finnish financial sector is split across four authorities. FIN-FSA The most prominent national authority for the supervision of Finland’s financial and insurance sectors is the FIN-FSA, which supervises the fol - lowing entities, among others: • banks; • payment institutions; • insurance and pension companies, as well as other companies operating in the insurance sector; • investment firms; • fund management companies; and • the Helsinki Stock Exchange. • crowdfunding companies; • virtual currency providers; The FIN-FSA is also responsible for promoting compliance with good practice in financial mar - kets and for disseminating general knowledge about the markets. It is regulated by the Finn - ish Act on the Financial Supervisory Authority (878/2008).
Supervision of traders who provide consumer credits and brokers of P2P loans was transferred from the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland to the FIN-FSA on 1 July 2023. The Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland The Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland is responsible for lower-level supervision of the financial sector (ie, supervi - sion that is not in the scope of the FIN-FSA), such as debt collection. The Regional State Administrative Agencies are governed by the Finnish Act on Regional State Administrative Agencies (896/2009). Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) In conjunction with the Regional State Adminis - trative Agencies, the FCCA has jurisdiction over business operations in which instant and con - sumer credits are being offered. According to the Act on the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (the FCCA Act, 661/2012), the sphere of authority of the FCCA includes the implemen - tation of competition and consumer policies and the protection of the consumer’s economic and legal position. Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (ODPO) Although not specific to the financial sector, the fourth national supervisory authority is the ODPO, which supervises compliance with data protection legislation – ie, the Finnish DPA and the GDPR. European Supervisory Authorities Since Finland is a member of the EU, the Euro - pean Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) also have jurisdiction. The ESAs consist of the European
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