FT, os. a2.i8 Top European bank chiefs want Big Tech bound by financial rules 3 Entrants seen as threat to stability 3 ‘Open banking’ clears way to cherry-pick business MARTIN ARNOLD — LONDON Big Tech’s move into banking is threatening financial stability and the biggest US and Chinese technology groups should be subject to some of the same regulation as big banks, according to top European finance chiefs. Europe’s introduction this year of “open banking” regulation, which forces lenders to provide access to accounts of customers who _. eae Pasa oe ‘authorise it, has left senior bankers worrying that tech groups will icrosoft are hosting 2 ~ — =e rt Zan wicmeriecronie ot _hetty-pick the best paris of ir business. financial their Lt Z : Peet lng Francisco Gonzalez, executive chairman of Spanish bank BBVA, has festa warned that groups such as Facebook and Amazon in the US and Alibaba and Tencent in China will “replace many banks”. He called ona global body take action, saying “authorities [need] to bring order to this massive change” that could “pose risks to financial stability”. a disd ge as they face intensifying competition from Big Tech groups ‘Decause Of uneven regulation between the two sectors, Mr Gonzalez said, adding: “If [need capital to lend then let's have the same rules for everyone — for the intemet giants too.” Having dabbled in financial services for years, tech groups are deepening their activity. ‘Amazon is providing payment services and loans to merchants on its platform, while Facebook recently secured an electronic money licence in Ireland. Alibaba and Tencent have become dominant operators in China’s $5.5tn payments industry. | Ralph Hamers, chief executive of Dutch bank ING, said new European “open banking” regulation had opened the door to the tech groups entering the market. “That is a threat to banks — because they have much more money to burn,” he told the Financial Times. | “If they get this data they will go full circle as they don’t currently have transactional data on \ what people buy,” he added. “As a society we should think about that concentration of power.” Big Tech has been criticised recently on a number of issues, ranging from enabling Russian election meddling, tax-avoidance, anti-competitive behaviour and publishing extremist content. itdihtlolvesoftware.cam/Olive/ODN/FT Europe[Printartic.0O1028tsH20180704235 ong aseuae201801TIN149208Medentext 05.0 Pa“There is clearly a mood that says these groups have to take more responsibility for their content, services and data that they have on people,” Bruce Camegie-Brown, chairman of Lloyd's of London, the insurance market, told the FT. “J think we have reached a tipping point, whether it is with Amazon or Facebook, cyber security or data protection,” said Mr Carnegie-Brown, who is also vice-chairman of Spain’s Banco Santander. “We should be looking at them at an international level.” ' | Google, Amazon and Microsoft are hosting a rising portion of the world’s financial data at their / | cloud computing divisions. As banks seek to automate more of their operations, they will become more reliant on the tech groups. Beijing crackdown page 13 http date olivesoftware.com/OlivelODN)FTEurope/Printati..007028 eozoazasoaseuaez0rg0riTiT4920emodestext 05.02.18, 07:49 Pagina 2 dl2