Page 53 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Recommendations

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Recommendations

Title of recommendation Competition authority expertise in DFS
Working Group Technology, Innovation and Competition

Workstream Competition
Audience for recommendation Regulators in DFS ecosystem

Given the complex nature of DFS, competition authorities or sector-specific regulators, where relevant, should,
to the extent possible, be staffed with specific expertise relating to DFS, financial inclusion and its adjacencies.

One reason why competition issues are often identified at a late stage in market evolution is the lack of
institutional expertise on a regulatory level in many DFS nations. Regulators may lack expertise in sophisticated
economic competition analysis or in the subject matter itself, DFS, which is extremely complex. This may be
due to resources, but also to limited sectoral experience, especially for newly created entities.
To ensure timely identification of competition issues, the allocation of sufficient financial and human
resources (including both overall number of staff and technical staff with economic and/or legal skills) and
the development of DFS expertise should be the focal points, thus allowing the authority to ensure competent
handling of DFS investigations.

In this respect, the national and international financial inclusion experts (often found at the financial regulator,
but also available from international organizations, NGOs and consultancies) as well as competition law experts
and economists can play a large role in helping to build permanent in-house capacity.
5

5 Sitbon (2015) ibid

47