Fintech 2025

BELGIUM Trends and Developments Contributed by: Tom Van Dyck and Louise Verstraete, Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick

established firms) the opportunity to contact them – via a central contact point – directly for (i) an explanation of specific supervisory rules, policies and authorisation procedures, (ii) assistance in navigating the supervisory landscape, and (iii) information on potential supervisory issues, for example when devel - oping innovative financial concepts. • Prudential oversight: The NBB has intensified oversight of fintech firms offering payment services and e-money services. It regularly updates its supervisory expectations con - cerning solvency, governance and internal controls to align with EU-level initiatives, such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which is set to apply from January 2025. • Cloud outsourcing: Building on earlier circu - lars on cloud outsourcing, the NBB contin - ues to remind financial institutions (including challenger banks and fintechs) of the need for robust governance and risk controls when outsourcing critical operations to third-party technology providers. The Crypto Market in Belgium Uptick in crypto adoption Belgium’s crypto market has seen steady growth. Retail and institutional interest remains, particu - larly through trading platforms and tokenisation projects. Some Belgian banks and fintechs are experimenting with digital assets, especially in the context of blockchain-based settlement solutions and security tokens. Noteworthy Belgian-based players, such as Keyrock, have continued to provide liquidity solutions to crypto exchanges worldwide, showcasing the growing Belgian expertise in this space. However, the risks associated with crypto invest - ments, made evident by market turbulence in recent years, have spurred the FSMA to empha -

sise investor protection. The new advertising rules for crypto-assets mark a clear attempt to safeguard retail participants. Regulatory regime for crypto service providers Belgium has imposed registration requirements for providers of crypto exchange services and custodian wallet services, with the FSMA leading the process. Under the Royal Decree of 8 Febru - ary 2023, crypto service providers must register before operating in Belgium, satisfying criteria on governance, internal controls and AML com - pliance. In addition, third-country crypto ser - vice providers without a branch in Belgium are banned. Practical challenges One prominent Belgian-based exchange, Bit4Y - ou, suspended its operations in 2023 following issues with its service provider. MiCA Roll-Out in Belgium Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in cryp - to-assets (MiCA) introduces an EU-wide har - monised framework for crypto-asset issuers and service providers. At the time of writing this article (January 2025), no draft bill implementing MiCA has been published, and it is not yet clear what regulatory authority will be designated to supervise CASPs going forward. It is expected that a draft bill will be published soon. Developments Under PSD2, PSD3 and PSR Changing legal framework On 28 June 2023, the European Commission unveiled a legislative package proposing PSD3 and a dedicated PSR. The NBB, tasked with prudential supervision of payment institutions, is generally supportive of a more harmonised EU approach to open banking

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