58 D SECTOR-SPECIFIC INQUIRY ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES APPLIED TO PAYMENT ACTIVITIES The emergence of FinTech and Big Tech On its own initiative, the Autorité issued an opinion in which it describes the developments that are likely to upset the competitive balance that has hitherto existed in the payments sector. In so doing, it highlights various areas of concern, in particular the risks associated with the strengthening of the market power of the major digital platforms, consumers lock-in into an ecosystem, and ultimately the risk of the marginalisation of traditional banking actors. AN OPINION ON A SECTOR • "Big Tech" groups together the major digi-A WIDE RANGE OF NEW IN CHANGE tal actors known as GAFAM (Google, Amazon, SERVICES ARE APPEARING Facebook, Apple and Microsoft), which are Driven by technological innovation and seve-active in Europe and the United States in par-In the wake of the second Payment Services ral regulatory changes at EU level (in parti-ticular, and BATX (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent andDirective, new payment initiation services cular the adoption of the first and secondXiaomi), which have acquired strong posi- and account information services have Payment Services Directives), this sector tions in Asia and are starting to develop inemerged. In particular, contactless pay- has evolved significantly in recent times:Europe and the United States. ment by bank card, mobile phone and new actors - FinTechs and Big Tech - have connected smartwatch has developed to emerged, alongside traditional banking a significant extent, in conjunction with the actors, innovative payment methods for growth of e-commerce. Furthermore, alter- consumers and new diversified services native payment methods are now reco- (account management, VAT payment sup- The data collected by gnised by the Banque de France, which port for SMEs, etc.). include crypto-assets such as Bitcoin, as Big Tech in the context well as stablecoins. • "FinTech" brings together a wide range of their core business All of these services, channels and alterna- of entities with very different profiles and tive payment methods are based on recent business models: these can be small inno- activities could give them technological developments, in particular vative start-ups, but also well-establisheda significant advantage cloud computing and blockchain. The lat- players from other business sectors with ter two technologies, although not specific a well-developed customer base, including in the payments industry. to the payments sector, are likely to bring Orange and Carrefour. about profound and lasting changes to the way this sector operates. I G I T A L •DIGITAL•DIGTROPER LAUNNA 0202 – erutuf evitisop erom a gniretsoF ITAL •