Financial Services & Digital Finance: established avenues, new areas and future challenges

This online training program aims to answer the key question: WHAT’S NEXT for financial services and their regulation in the EU?

Having as a starting point the examination of key concepts of the EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, the program will take you through the main features of the Digital Finance Package of the EU: The European crypto-assets regulation (‘MICA Regulation’ which will apply as of 30.12.2024), the Pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology that applies from 23.03.2023, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (‘DORA’) that that will apply as of 17.1.2025 and the 2017 European Banking Authority Guidelines on information and communication technology.

The program is divided into two distinct parts to ensure a focused and detailed exploration of each topic.

Aims of the training program

By the end of this training program, participants will:

• Understand the obligations for identification, prevention, and management of conflicts of interest in providing investment services.
• Familiarize with the requirements of knowledge and competence for investment firms’ staff
• Appreciate the golden, far-reaching principles of conduct of business in the provision of investment services, to act honestly, fairly, professionally and to provide fair, clear - non-misleading information to clients.
• Comprehend the concept and scope of investment advice.
• Understand the focus and priorities of the Securities Regulator, as evident from a recent seminal decision.
• Appreciate the restrictions to the provision of investment services due to imposed sanctions.
• Be introduced to the Digital Finance Strategy for the EU, and the changing landscape of financial services and their regulation.
• Understand the new obligations, financial products and services based on EU legislation.
• Gain practical knowledge through examples, Q&A sessions, examination of decisions, and case studies on the key concepts.

,