Budapest, 13 September 2019 – The MNB has initiated the establishment of the Digitalization and Fintech Advisory Board, in order to support the digitalisation of domestic financial system. The Advisory Board of recognised domestic and international experts in the field will serve as a knowledge sharing platform for market needs and identify potential opportunities and risks of digitalization. The inaugural meeting of the biannual Advisory Board will be held on 16 September 2019.
The development of the financial system’s digitalization is considered to be utmost important by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), which can contribute to improve the operational efficiency, to develop the domestic FinTech sector and to raise the level of general financial awareness. Along these lines the MNB encourages the market introduction of FinTech innovations in a safe manner through several innovative tools, and since May 2019 a dedicated organizational unit, responsible for digitalization, has also been supporting the achievement of these goals.
The central bank recognises the importance of the active involvement of market participants and the channelling of their insights into decision-making to create a supportive environment for digital innovation. In order to facilitate this, the MNB, as the first central bank in the region, has initiated the establishment of a new forum, the Digitalization and FinTech Advisory Board.
There are several international examples, where advisory boards were set up by central banks and financial regulators in order to foster digitalization of the financial system and to develop the FinTech sector. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced in August 2016, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced in March 2019 the establishment of an advisory body to support these goals. The organizations typically consist of 10 to 15 experts invited from incumbents, FinTech and technology companies, consultancy firms and research institutes.
The Digitalization and FinTech Advisory Board, co-ordinated by the MNB, will provide support for monitoring key international digitalization and FinTech trends, identifying promising developments, and discovering potential risks. As members of the Board domestic and foreign financial market and technology experts, and a high-level representative of the ministry responsible for innovation were invited, and the invitation was accepted. The inaugural meeting of the biannual Advisory Board will be held on 16 September 2019.