Among the Financial Services Laws, the hybrid Belgian regulation which regulated certain aspects of the Fintech services, are the following:

• Electronic Money Institutions and Payment Service providers: those institutions are regulated by the Law of 11 March 2018 on the status and supervision of payment institutions and electronic money institutions, access to the activity of payment service providers ;

Among the other financial services Laws, the following traditional Belgian regulations will also
regulated Fintech services, knowing that remote financial services are already considered as to be
traditional financial services:

• Credit institutions: the law of 25 April 2014 on the status and supervision of credit institutions and securities firms ;
• Investment undertaking and investment services :
  ✓ Law of 2 August 2002 on the supervision of the financial sector and financial services
  ✓ Law of 25 October 2016 on access to the activity of providing investment services and on the status and supervision of portfolio management and investment advice companies
  ✓ Royal Decree of 19 December 2017 laying down the rules and procedures for transposing the Directive on markets in financial instruments.
• Insurance and reinsurance firms: Law of 13 March 2016 on the status and supervision of insurance and reinsurance undertakings ;
• And many others legislation notably on Public offers of securities,, funds managers, which are mostly from European origin.

Make a list of fintech services that may obtain a licence in your jurisdiction? 

1. Online payments (PSD 2),
2. Crypto currencies
   Under the upcoming MiCA, crypto asset service providers will need to obtain a licence to operate in the European Union,
3. Online insurances ,
4. Online trading of securities,
5. Online lending to consumers,
6. Crowdfunding platform

What is(are) the name(s) of the regulatory authority(ies) responsible to grant licences and regulate fintech service providers? If there is more than one, please list which fintech services are regulated by which authority.

The Financial Services and Markets Authorities (“FSMA”) is the supervisory authority of the financial
market. This authority is responsible notably for:

• All aspect of the distribution of financial instruments (securities) including funds (Ucits and AIFM) (public offers, rules of conduct (Mifid II) and to licence (-) investment firms (only the ones which provide portfolio management and investment advice), (-) intermediaries and banking and investment services and (-) funds managers.
• All aspect of the distribution of credits to consumers and to small and medium companies.
• All aspect related to the distribution of insurance product (IDD);
• The marketing of the crypto currencies.

The national bank of Belgium is responsible notably for granting licence to and supervise the :

• Credit institutions,
• Insurance understaking,
• Brokerage firm.

FSMA and the BNB, supervise the correct application of the money laundering regulation (AML) by
the undertaking for which they grant a licence.

Are there any specific restrictions on the types of fintech services that can be offered in and/or from your jurisdiction?

Financial services are, like in any others European countries, strictly regulated. The Fintech Services
are also for most of them subject to this regulation and in a stricter manner when those services are
provided to non-professional clients/consumers.
Once complying with those regulations (prudential, contractual and diligence rules), Fintech Services
are not, as such, subject to any restriction in Belgium.

Is reverse solicitation allowed in your jurisdiction, for fintech firms licensed in other reputable jurisidictions? (Meaning that a third-country fintech firm can offer services to clients in your jurisdiction providing its at the exclusive initiative of the client).

Reverse solicitation in Belgium is, under common law, allowed by complying with very strict conditions
related to the localisation of the characteristic performance of the financial services performed and
the absence of any marketing done in Belgium directly or indirectly by the foreign undertaking
providing such financial services.
MifiD II provides for a special regime for the reverse solicitation. The reserve solicitation is allowed
only if the client as requested the financial services at its exclusive own initiative and if the investment
undertaking has no directed its activities by any means in Belgium.
Similar regime of reverse solicitation is provided in the draft of CRD6 (Credit institutions).

Are there any specific requirements for companies providing fintech services in your jurisdiction?

Yes, such services are in general regulated by : (-) prudential rules (licence needed) -including capital
requirements, governance and management, risk management- (-) diligence rules including AML rules,
(-) pre contractual and contractual,(-) etc…
Those requirements depend of the kind of Fintech Services concerned. We refer to our above answers
to the previous questions.

Are there any specific consumer protection measures that apply to fintech services in your jurisdiction?

Most of the financial regulations at the Belgium and European level provide specials rules for the
protection of retail customers/consumer customers (Mifid 2, EU Prospectus Regulation, AIFMD,
consumers loans, PSD2, etc…).
Most of these regulations require financial undertakings to comply with stricter marketing, pre-contractual (information and diligence rules), contractual rules (content of the contract and the way
this contract must be performed) and rules of conduct related essentially to the knowledge of the
customer and its ability to subscribe to the financial product concerned.
Some very risky financial products are also prohibited for sale to non-professional
customers/consumer customers.

Are there any other legal issues that companies should be aware of when providing fintech services in your jurisdiction?

Companies operating in Belgium need to consider that Belgium regulation of Fintech Services are
mainly regulated at a European Level.

Are virtual assets (such as cryptocurrencies and) permitted in your jurisdiction? (Yes/No)

Yes

If the answer is Yes, is there any licensing /authorisation/notification process that needs to be followed for a person to issue a new virtual asset? (Yes/No)

No. However, this will change with the upcoming implementation of MiCA in Europe.

If the answer is Yes, please provide a summary of the process that needs to be followed by a person to issue a new virtual asset).

See above answer.

Are Virtual Asset service providers regulated in your jurisdiction? (Yes/No)

See above answer. In addition, their advertising to consumers is currently regulated by the Royal
Decree of 5 January 2023 approving the regulation of the Authority for Financial Services and Markets
making the marketing of the marketing of virtual currencies to consumers subject to restrictive
conditions to consumers.

If the answer to your previous question is Yes, please provide a summary of the framework that regulates such service providers explaining which licence(s) need to be obtained from which authority(ies).

N/A

Are you as a firm providing services and advice relating to Virtual Assets? (Yes/No)

Yes

Please feel free to add any pertinent comments in addition to your answers.

N/A