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    ASF tests blockchain technology to improve flows of data and information collection and reporting

ASF tests blockchain technology to improve flows of data and information collection and reporting

Bucharest, 5 April 2022 - The Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) has assumed, starting with the middle of 2020, an important objective regarding the acceleration of the digitalization of the institution’s activity in order to support both the market entities and the consumers.

A first project developed in this respect is the implementation of the authorization portal, an online tool that facilitates the authorization process on the non-banking financial market. Thus, the persons and entities who want to submit a file for authorisation are no longer required to go to the Authority’s registered office, and the volume of paper documentation is diminished. By implementing this project, the aim was to simplify and streamline all the authorization activities carried out by the ASF.

The Authority has also carried out a pilot project testing the blockchain technology with the aim of improving work processes and reducing the volume of manually processed data and information in interaction with reporting entities in the capital market. As a result, it was found that the institution’s existing reporting and data collection processes can be successfully improved, digitised and secured using blockchain technology. The IT solution developed aims to reform the way of working within the FSA, strategically reinvent the institution’s internal processes, and significantly streamline inter-institutional collaboration and communication.

“The acceleration of the digitalization process at the level of the activity of the Financial Supervisory Authority is one of the major objectives of the institution. In the 21st century, we can no longer be efficient and promptly respond to the needs of the market and the citizen if we do not use technology in everything we do on a daily basis. Digitalization substantially improves work processes and brings quantifiable benefits for non-banking financial market entities and consumers”, said Mr. Nicu Marcu, President of the Financial Supervisory Authority.

The blockchain technology has been highlighted in recent years by a number of technical and conceptual benefits that prove to have a major impact in terms of governing the interaction of users and organizations with software products and the security of the data they operate.

The potential benefits of the blockchain relate to improving the transparency and traceability of transactions, increasing the level of confidence of participants in a given market, strengthening regulatory compliance, but also reducing transaction costs between parties, by eliminating the need for paper documents. It also strengthens data immutability and security and acts as a preventive tool. Thanks to these characteristics, blockchain technology could promote responsible business behavior.

Innovative technologies are gradually changing the interaction with financial markets, reshaping areas such as the economy, finance, insurance or securities and changing the way they are reported to them.

 

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Financial Supervisory Authority

The Financial Supervisory Authority is the national authority, established in 2013 by GEO 93/2012 approved by Law 113/2013, for the regulation and supervision of insurance markets, private pensions, as well as of the capital market. FSA contributes to the consolidation of the integrated operating framework of the three sectors, which has over 10 million participants. More information can be found on www.asfromania.ro.