This “Sandbox”, approved its implementation eight days ago in the Council of Ministers is conceived as a controlled and regulated testing space, which will imply guarantees for the operation of the Fintech and greater legal security for the consumer, after its approval as a preliminary draft of Law in the Council of Ministers last Friday.
The “Sandbox” has already started its takeoff and thus begins the race of Spain towards innovation and financial technology
All the speakers slipped the idea that the “Sandbox” has already started its takeoff and thus begins the race of Spain towards innovation and financial technology. Now, it is time to develop and create innovative projects to enter the “Sandbox”, it will be a very competitive election process where only the best will enter “.
García de la Cruz made a brief explanation about the trajectory of the “Sandbox” and pointed out that “until now there have been many initiatives that, due to the absence of a similar space, have gone to other countries”.
“With the approval of the” Sandbox “, the impact on the financial sector will be immediate, since it will allow the financial sector to move forward, attract talent and be much more competitive in a global environment”.
The president of AEFI explained that, in the negotiation process of the “Sandbox” with the Bank of Spain, the CNMV and the Ministry of Economy, “one of the key requests was to leave the law as open as possible (such as, for example, not limiting projects by number of clients) and that each project will be reviewed individually. ”
García de la Cruz concluded by commenting that “Spain is the country with the most Fintech and Insurtech per capita in the world, but they are much smaller than in other countries, especially due to the lack of investment, something that the” Sandbox “will begin to correct” .
The “Sandbox” will start after the summer
For his part, Jaime Bofill partner of Hogan Lovells, explained that “in the worst case, the” Sandbox “will start after the summer, once the Cortes are constituted, since all political parties are in favor”. On its development, once implemented, Bofill commented that “there will be a process of issuing 20/30 places that will be selected from hundreds of companies.
The “Sandbox” aims to improve the regulation of the sector, the Treasury is who will decide who enters and who does not, but they have to be real projects, with real clients, “Bofill said.
Once a project goes to the “Sandbox”, it will be under the supervision of the CNMV, the Bank of Spain or DGS for a period of 3 to 6 months that can be extended. However, once it enters the “Sandbox”, it is not guaranteed that it will become a successful company, but, “if the idea is innovative and the” Sandbox “approves it, it will undoubtedly have access to a high level of financing “, concluded Bofill.
Next, Diego Bestard, founder of Urbanitae, whose previous project entered the British “Sandbox”, explained that “without the Sandbox we would not have obtained enough funding nor the testing space to carry out our project”.
Álvaro González, LegalTech consultant and RegTech of Finnovating, added that “the Sandbox can encourage large collaborations between strong banking entities and startups to accelerate innovation in the sector. These big entities inject large amounts of funding to startups with innovative ideas. ”
In the same way, no large corporation will “throw themselves into the pool” without the credibility of a powerful startup and for that “there is a very important task when it comes to selecting projects”. González added that “the” Sandbox “should be an innovation booster and should go hand in hand with a company that gives credibility and financial support.”
Key to “give a boost in the field of innovation”
Cyrille Mascarelle, CEO of ASEFA, said that the “Sandbox” is a key project to “give a push in the field of innovation” and even recognized “a certain envy” about the progress that Spain has made in this area, in comparison with his native country, France.
All the speakers who participated in the AEFI Meet Up slipped the idea that, after its approval as a draft Law in the Council of Ministers, the Sandbox has already started its takeoff, which will start a race towards innovation and technology financial in Spain.
The feeling that underlies the Fintech ecosystem is that now is the time to create innovative projects that are integrated into the “Sandbox” and make available to the industry the necessary resources for its better development.
From AEFI it is believed that the approval of the Sandbox brings Spain to the forefront of financial technological innovation.
They consider their experts that their structure increase competition and improve and update the existing regulation regarding the creation of innovative companies in the financial sector.
According to his calculations, its implementation will generate 5,000 more jobs in the next two years and attract an additional 1,000 million euros of investment.