Regulating crowdfunding in the EU – same rules, same results? case study of Croatia

Abstract

Fintech embodies technological innovations in financial services. The scholarship in this area is fast-growing and correlates with a disruptive potential Fintech has for the financial ecosystem. European regulation is also keeping up with this phenomenon. A case in point is the recently adopted EU crowdfunding regulation which is part of the EU’s FinTech Action Plan and Capital Markets Union agenda. Its general goal is to promote financial development of European financial systems by enhancing alternative finance sources to bank lending and cross-border investments. On the one hand, the EU crowdfunding regulation aims to enhance scalability for crowdfunding platforms service providers across the European single market through a single EU crowdfunding licence. On the other hand, regulation intends to provide a high level of investor protection across Europe through a unified set of rules. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to outline the European regulatory and policy agenda in addressing disruptive impacts of FinTech and crowdfunding