Regulation needed to boost the digital economy

María Dolores Ramos Martínez, director of digital regulation and business of Banco Santander; and Álvaro García Porras, member of the Public Policy team of Banco Santander; summarize in this article the opportunities that technology has given us in the financial environment and explain in a very didactic way why in the future it will be necessary to create a multi-sector regulation for the treatment of data and access to digital infrastructures to ensure digitalization is put at the service of users and the economy.

According to the authors of this article (published last October 8th in Digital Economy section of the Spanish newspaper Expansión) technology has provided many opportunities to consumers and companies. For instance, in the financial sector individuals can go to the bank's branch but also operate through their smartphones, personal computers or receive assistance by video conference. 

All these options are available thanks to technology but also to the security offered by the regulation "because the rules have allowed these services while keeping them safe for us.”

In this sense, the authors encourage the European Commission to continue regulating some key aspects of the digitization of the economy, in an ambitious way and not restricted to the financial sector. According to them, the regulation must progress in order to take advantage of technologies “to ensure that the elements that allow digitization are put at the service of users and the economy.”