Tuesday, July 03, 2018

Report on the impact of Fintech on incumbent credit institutions' business models

EBA, here. 

Report on prudential risks and opportunities arising for institutions from FinTech

EBA, here. 

AT&T promised lower prices after Time Warner merger—it’s raising them instead

ArsTechnica, here.

Statement of FTC Chairman Joe Simons Regarding Federal Court Ruling in FTC v. AbbVie

FTC, here.
Ruling here.

Amazon Ran an die Pille

SZ, hier.

IPG Confirms $2.3 Billion Deal to Acquire Data Marketing Company Acxiom

AdWeek, here.

Stand und Entwicklung der Unternehmenskonzentration in Deutschland

Monopolkommission, hier.

Algorithmen und Kollusion

Monopolkommission, hier.

Big Business Keeps Winning at the Supreme Court

The Atlantic, here. 

Facebook Faces Broadened Federal Investigations Over Data and Privacy

NYTimes, here. 

The Paradox of Technological Déjà Vu

Digitopoly, here. 

La idea de misión

M. Mazzucato, aquì.

ÉCONOMIE AUGMENTÉE. NOUVELLES PERSPECTIVES.

Autorit de la concurrence, ici. 

Tech for TechLawyers: The Hardware

N. Brown, Video here. 

Jack Ma Embraces Blockchain for Ant But Warns of Bitcoin Bubble

Bloomberg, here. 

Festrede Andreas Mundt zur 53. Theodor Heuss Preisverleihung

Hier. 

Platforms and personal data processing : the potential for achieving systemic transparency

P.-O. Dehaye, I. Hahn, G. Jargalsaikhan, here.  J
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The state of the Internet in France

Arcep, here. 

Políticas de competencia para una economía digital: el marco regulatorio e institucional y el contexto internacional

G. Núñez, J. De Furquim, M. Pereira, here. 

A Nobel-winning economist’s guide to taming tech monopolies

Quartz, here. 

CMA launches enforcement action against hotel booking sites

CMA, here. 

Data in the payments industry

PSR, Discussion paper, here. 

How the Disney-Fox Deal Got DOJ’s Greenlight Quicker Than Expected

Variety, here. 

With Amex Ruling, Modern IO Theory Makes Important Inroads with SCOTUS

R. Picker, here. 

The future of banking is open

PWC, ODI, here. 

Big tech companies are looking at Hollywood as the next stage in their play for the cloud

TechCrunch, here. 

The seven-year legal fight between Apple and Samsung over smartphone patents has ended with a whimper

NYTimes, here. 

"Open Banking is a revolution for the whole industry"

J. Basini, here. 

The Effect of Institutional Ownership Types On Innovation and Competition

P. Borochin, J. Yang, R. Zhang, here. 

Your Phone Is Listening—Literally Listening—to Your TV

K. Waddell, here. 

The internet: to regulate or not to regulate?

UK Parliament, Witnesses here. 

When the Econometrician Shrugged: Identifying and Plugging Gaps in the Consumer Welfare Standard

K. Caves, H. Singer, here. 

The 17 years since the Microsoft antitrust case taught us that regulation can spur innovation

Quartz, here. 

The German cement cartel – a landmark decision for private damages actions

CoRe Blog, here. 

Wettbewerbshüter warnen vor automatisierten Preisabsprachen

WiWo, hier. 

Facebook offers fresh detail about its ties to dozens of outside companies in more than 700 pages of new data turned over to Congress

Washington Post, here. 

Artificial Intelligence and the 'Good Society': The US, EU, and UK Approach

C. Cath et al., here. 

The State of Artificial Intelligence in 2018: A Good Old Fashioned Report

N. Benaich, I. Hogarth, here. 

Young generation tempted by Amazon bank-like services

Computerweekly, here. 

Government response to House of Lords Artificial Intelligence Select Committee’s Report on AI in the UK: Ready, Willing and Able?

UK Gov, here. 

Gütekriterien für algorithmische Prozesse

N. Rohde, hier. 

Companies under strain from GDPR requests

FT, here. 

How regulators can prevent excessive concentration online

The Economist, here and here.

Can Technology Be Stopped?

BBC Radio 4, Podcast here. 

Oracle to locate European fintech hub in Brussels

FinExtra, here. 

Before “After Consumer Welfare” -- A Response To Professor Wu

D. Melamed, N. Petit, here. 

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Line to launch cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore

FT, here. 

The first "known" financial technology

Morgan Museum, NYC


(Small) Variations on a Theme: This blog's author Lund Presentation on "FinTech, TechFin, Competitive Markets: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?", here. 

Friday, June 22, 2018

FinTech,TechFin, Competitive Markets: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

S. Vezzoso (this blog’s author), presentation here. Please email me if you have any comment.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Opinion of the European Banking Authority on the implementation of the RTS on SCA and CSC

EBA, here.
"In the event that the ASPSP does not have a system that enables it to adequately respond to the confirmation request sent by the provider initiating the payment, then the ASPSP should give PISPs the possibility of accessing the necessary data themselves, so as to allow them to make their own judgements on the sufficient availability of funds."

"Given that PSD2 does not limit the types of payment transactions a PISP is allowed to offer, and given the provisions in Articles 4(15) and 66(1) of PSD2 in particular, the EBA would like to clarify that a PISP has the right to initiate the same transactions that the ASPSP offers to its own PSUs, such as instant payments, batch payments, international payments, recurring transactions, payments set by national schemes and future-dated payments."

“ TECHNOPOLY” and what to do about it: Reform, Redress and Regulation

ResPublica, here. 

The regulatory mistakes that let Facebook and Google buy ad dominance

Axios, here. 

Super Platforms, Big Data, and the Competition Law: The Japanese Approach in Contrast with the US and the EU

T. Takigawa, here. 

Lessons from the Recent Commission’s Decision on Google. To Favour Oneself or Not, That is the Question

B. Mäihäniemi, here. 

Virtual Competition

N. Colombo, here. 

The Sound and Fury of Patent Activity

R. Feldman, M. Lemley, here. 

Amazon—An Infrastructure Service and Its Challenge to Current Antitrust Law

L. Khan, here (pp. 99 ff.), here. 

Digital Dominance

Edited by Martin Moore and Damian Tambini, here. 

‘Direct’ and ‘indirect’ effects of enforcement

DotEcon for CMA, here. 

No Fair Hearing for the DoJ in the AT&T-Time Warner Decision

C. Sagers, here. 

Data Nationalization in the Shadow of Social Credit Systems

F. Pasquale, here. 

Report on Competition Policy 2017

EC, here. 

Projet conjoint sur les algorithmes et leurs enjeux pour l'application du droit de la concurrence

Autorité de la concurrence, Bundeskartellamt, ici. 

Supreme Court to review Apple app store commissions case

FT, here. 

Monday, June 18, 2018

Egyptian Competition Authority imposes interim measures on FIFA for World Cup TV rights

Egypttoday.com, here. 

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs: Structured Dialogue with Margrethe Vestager

Video, here (from 15:17:30).

15:40:09 "the banking sector is developing because of FinTech, new ways of doing payments, new ways of doing banking and that will push the banking sector into restructuring"..."as I see it...the banking sector is in much better shape now than it was just a few years ago"

U.S. top court mulls Apple's App Store commissions in antitrust case

Reuters, here. 

Cryptocurrencies: looking beyond the hype

BIS, here.

Alexis Bledel, Kurt Russell, Beau Knapp to Star in Money Laundering Thriller 'Crypto'

Hollywood Reporter, here. 

CYBG plays up tech advantages in £1.7 billion takeover deal for Virgin Money

FinExtra, here. 

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Preview of the upcoming discussions at ASCOLA 2018 NYC

Here.

And forget the distinction between the main track and the parallel sessions: great topics everywhere!

(mine included, of course 😊. I hope I’ll do it justice.  First draft of my paper coming soon. Abstract:
‘The use of technology to support the production and delivery of financial services has a long history, spanning from the written records of financial transactions in Mesopotamia, to much more recent developments, such as the first use in 1995 of the World Wide Web to provide online account checking, and the introduction of high‐frequency trading. In the last ten years, however, the adoption of digital technology in the financial sector, generally known as FinTech, has undergone a dramatic acceleration, both in the West and the East. In the latter, arguably, the magnitude of the transformative powers at work is most visible. Ant Financial Services Group, a spin‐out of e‐commerce platform Alibaba, lately achieved a market value of around €127 billion ($150 billion) based on the success of its digital payments system Alipay and money market fund Yu'e Bao. Tencent's popular instant‐messaging app WeChat incorporates an online payment service, WeChat Pay, which is used by a substantial proportion of its one billion monthly users. A strong trend towards mobile payments is also experienced in other countries, such as India. Ongoing transformations in the financial sector are significant and global, which creates opportunities and challenges for consumers, traditional and non‐traditional financial service providers, and regulators alike. Incumbent banks have expressed concerns about the disruptive potential and the dangers of Big Tech, which the Paper calls TechFin adopting the definition of Alibaba's CEO, Jack Ma. While banks brace themselves for potentially unsettling market developments, financial regulators discuss the impact of new technologies on processes and business models, as well as the need for a changed supervisory methodology. The challenge for most financial regulators is to ensure that the multiple benefits offered by these new technologies are realized without hampering consumer protection and compromising the stability of the financial system. The Paper embraces a different perspective and explores some of the likely consequences of FinTech in terms of market structure and competition. Keeping the literature strands on platforms in the background, we analyse the current push towards the “platformization” of banking services. If the financial sector moves towards production and distribution models where the banks see their pivotal role diminished, this is certainly of concern to financial regulators, who should at the very least adapt their supervisory methodologies to the new situation. From a competition policy perspective, however, it is important to identify the types of market structure that could better satisfy consumers' banking and financial needs. The Paper makes the point that the analysis of the possible impact of the FinTech revolution on competition dynamics in the financial sector is particularly relevant especially to make sure that the benefits of innovation are harnessed for the good of consumers. This perspective is solidly ingrained in the “long term” view of competition policy.’)

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Snapchat is finally opening its app to developers — and has clearly learned from Facebook’s mistakes

Recode, here. 

Microsoft reportedly working on rival Amazon Go tech for cashier-free stores

The Verge, here. 

La donnée, une marchandise comme les autres ?

H. Isaac, ici. 

Comment définir et réguler les « données d’intérêt général » ?

B. PAILHÈS, ici. 

Le Big Data en agriculture

V. BELLON-MAUREL ITAP, P. NEVEU MISTEA, A. TERMIER  et F. GARCIA, ici and here. 

Données et règles de concurrence

A. Perrot, ici. 

Modèles économiques des données : une relation complexe entre demande et offre

P. Belleflamme, ici. 

Misinformation & missing information: a fix for fake news

Bruegel, here. 

Adyen share price doubles on market debut

FinExtra, here. 

Small wonder it had to go to trial!

FT, here. 

Antitrust law never envisioned massive tech companies like Google

R. Levine, here. 

Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism & Democracy for a Just Society

G. Weyl, Talk at Google moderated by its Chief Economist, here. 

AT&T Shellacs the Government in Time Warner Merger Case

R. Picker, here. 

Bitcoin Technology Opens Up Kenya's $20 Billion Informal Economy

Bloomberg, here. 

Amazon’s Clever Machines Are Moving From the Warehouse to Headquarters

Bloomberg, here. 

Data Ethics Framework

UK Government, here. 

Monday, June 04, 2018

A Letter to the FTC re Google

K. Ellison, here. 

Entry, Innovation and Productivity Growth in the U.S. Economy: Facts and Open Questions (i.e., Puzzles)

J. Haltiwanger, Presentation here. 

GitHub users are already fuming about the company’s sale to Microsoft for $7.5bn

Quartz, here.
Heise.de, hier: "Mal losgelöst von steuerlichen Erwägungen, die aus Microsoft-Sicht für die Akquisition sprechen, mag es für die Redmonder wohl auch darum gehen, die riesige Zahl der registrierten GitHub-Anwender – die Rede ist von 27 Millionen – zu den eigenen Angeboten insbesondere im Azure-Umfeld zu locken. Wie verheißend mag für Microsoft ein direkt aus GitHub nach Azure führender Deploy-Button sein!"

(Follow the data?)

Amazon and PayPal more trusted amongst younger generation than banks to hold their personal data

RFi Group, here. 

The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda

NBER, Conference Papers here. 

Taking control of personal data is about your rights, not owning it

J. Tennison, here. 

A Study of NASA Scientists Shows How to Overcome Barriers to Open Innovation

HBR, here. 

Could the Steward Health v. BCBS Trial Revitalize Monopolization Law?

C. Sagers, here. 

So you think Alipay is just for the Chinese?

The Finanser, here. 

La rivoluzione copernicana del 25 maggio 2018 in materia di privacy

G. Buttarelli, here. 

U.S. Antitrust Law Could Break OPEC's Collusion On Oil Production Deals

Seeking Alpha, here. 

Evident Internet Market Failure To Protect Consumer Welfare

S. Cleland, here. 

Digital Capitalism’s War on Leisure

Democracy Journal, here. 

N26 will im Herbst in Amerika starten

FAZ, hier. 

Facebook Gave Device Makers Deep Access to Data on Users and Friends

NYTimes, here. 

Erste Bank will Google Pay anbieten

Die Zeit, hier. 

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Fintech Developments: FTC, FDIC, OCC and More

Manatt, here. 

Keine Verfahrenseinleitung gegen die Lufthansa wegen Preishöhenmissbrauchs

Bundeskartellamt, Fallbericht hier. 

Bayern-Fußballstar James führt eigene Kryptowährung ein

FAZ, hier. 

Brad Smith:"the single greatest cost was the distraction...we missed search"

Recode, Video here (at (8:32).
Missed: not aware or didn't dare (to hamper Google et al. because of the annoying DoJ's antitrust laser beam)?

Going to show this video to my students...forever.

Funny though that antitrust might be considered a distraction by Big Tech, while many of their tools are generally considered weapons of mass distraction.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Amazon confirms that Echo device secretly shared user’s private audio

ArsTechnica, here.

Dutch lender ABN Amro’s website slowed by cyber attack

FT, here. 

Making Sense of the Intricacies of Online Advertising Market: The French Autorité de la concurrence ’s Take

I. de Silva, here. 

Amazon’s Finance Ambitions Are Drawing Attention From the Fed

Bloomberg, here. 

Zuckerberg set up fraudulent scheme to 'weaponise' data, court case alleges

The Guardian, here.

Cryptocurrencies: Commodity Dynamics and Cartelization

P. Heilberg, here.

U.S. Launches Criminal Probe into Bitcoin Price Manipulation

Reuters, here.

Russia’s Gazprom dodges fine in EU antitrust settlement

FT, here.

Commission imposes binding obligations on Gazprom to enable free flow of gas at competitive prices in Central and Eastern European gas markets

EC, Press Release here. 

Are all these GDPR-consent emails even necessary?

iapp. here. 

Whatsapp gibt Nutzerdaten an Facebook weiter

SZ.de, hier. S. auch hier.

Privacy and Freedom of Expression In the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Article 19 and Privacy International, here. 

The International Impact of the General Data Protection Regulation

I. Rubinstein, B. Petkova, here. 

Legal and regulatory issues businesses should be thinking about now when it comes to AI.

Hogan Lovells, here. 

GOOGLE’S SELFISH LEDGER IS AN UNSETTLING VISION OF SILICON VALLEY SOCIAL ENGINEERING

The Verge, here. 

Big Brother Goes Digital

NYBooks, here. 

Sustainable Financial Services in the Digital Age

UK Finance, here. 

Online platforms and exclusionary abuses – Unlockd vs. Google- a seminal case in the making?

Coreblog, here. 

The need for a new personal data infrastructure

Mydex, here.

Google says India anti-trust ruling could cause 'irreparable" harm': document

Reuters, here. 

Antitrust nearly slew Microsoft. Can it adapt to tech giants like Facebook?

San Francisco Chronicle, here. 

Tech Platforms and the Knowledge Problem

F. Pasquale, here. 

Diskussionen zwischen KI-Systemen sollen Entscheidungen nachvollziehbar machen

Heise.de, hier. 

Brokers, dealers and the regulation of markets: Applying finreg to the giant tech platforms

Synthetic Assets, here. 

‘60 Minutes’ Report Targets on Google Antitrust Risks

Bloomberg, here. 

‘Crush Them’: An Oral History of the Lawsuit That Upended Silicon Valley

The Ringer, here.

BIG DATA IM BEREICH HEIM UND FREIZEIT

ABIDA, hier. 

Deutsche vertrauen Algorithmen nicht

Zeit.de, hier. 

Activists turn tables on companies as EU privacy law comes in

Reuters, here. 

All Roads Lead to Rome: Enforcing the Consumer Welfare Standard in Digital Media Markets

M. Delrahim, here. 

Is Blockchain Hype, Revolutionary, or Both? What We Need to Know

S. Oh, S. Wallsten. here. 

Platforms and Infrastructures in the Digital Age

P. Constantinides, O. Henfridsson, G. Parker, here. 

Monday, May 14, 2018

U.S. vs. Microsoft: 20 Years Later, Lessons Learned and the Path Ahead

Yelp Video, here.

Highest exposure to antitrust enforcement (Panel 1)?
G x x x x
Apple
F x
Amazon x x x

(Gary Reback getting more depressed after each panel).

BLUMENTHAL & MARKEY CALL FOR INVESTIGATION INTO GOOGLE’S COVERT LOCATION TRACKING

Markey.senate.gov, here. 

Corralling the Info-Monopolists

Project Syndicate, here. 

New Commissioner Says FTC Should Get Tough on Companies Like Facebook and Google

ProPublica, here.

Algorithmic Accountability

ABIDA, hier. 

The GDPR was never going to change behaviour overnight

G. Buttarelli, here. 

Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting from Android phones

The Guardian, here.
No Oracle's submission to be found here.
I think Gary Reback mentioned that "they" tried to bring data protection into the EU Android investigation but didn't succeed in convincing the EC (check here si jamais).

Google's plans to use AI to help the blind

CNN, here. 

Morgan Stanley to Follow Goldman in Bet on Brazilian Fintech

Bloomberg, here.
"Lively" competition enforcement factored in by investors, or competition authorities getting active because of the economic relevance of the sector?

GDPR will pop the adtech bubble

D. Searls, here.

Asus to pay 65m euro settlement for price manipulation

Asia Nikkei, here. Case here. 

Guidance on Transaction Value Thresholds for Mandatory Pre-merger Notification

Bundeskartellamt, here. Draft for public consultation.

Why so much debate about personal data misses the point

Mydex, here. 

Facebook Plans to Create Its Own Cryptocurrency

Cheddar, here. 

'Big Brother' AIB now spying on customers' social media accounts

Irish Independent, here. 

Quel menu pour nourrir l’intelligence artificielle? Pouvez-vous passer la carte?

A. Strowel, ici. 

Artificial Intelligence for the American People

The White House, here. See also here.


Tuesday, May 08, 2018

Europa lädt das Update hoch

Die Zeit, hier. 🐌

Ticketmaster could replace tickets with facial recognition

The Verge, here.

ETH-Professor zu umstrittenen Belohn-Apps von Krankenkassen: «Mir sind sie zu intransparent»

AZ, hier.

Uber/Grab merger: Appointment of monitoring trustee to monitor compliance with CCCS’s Interim Measures Directions

CCCS, here. 

Uber’s self-driving car saw the pedestrian but didn’t swerve – report

The Guardian here. 

What is edge computing?

TheVerge, here. 🐌

Jan Philipp Albrecht: "Ein großer Schritt voran"

BR.de, hier. 

Study on emerging issues of data ownership, interoperability, (re-)usability and access to data, and liability

Deloitte for DG Communications Networks, Content & Technology, here.
(rating: 🐌🐌 medium slow reading required).

AUSWIRKUNGEN VON BIG DATA AUF DEN MARKT DER ONLINEMEDIEN

ABIDA.de, hier. 

Algorithms as Illegal Agreements

M. Gal, here.
🐌🐌🐌

Amazon, the Elephant in the Antitrust Room

NYTimes, here. 

Amazon Offers Retailers Discounts to Adopt Payment System

Bloomberg, here. 

Radical Markets and...the Blockchain

E. Posner, G. Weyl, here (from 5:33:16).

Entwurf der ePrivacy Verordnung – Neue Fassung zum aktuellen Stand im Rat der Europäischen Union

De Lege Data, hier. 

La défense de la création passe par la régulation

F. Nissen, ici. 

Digitalisierung im Alltag: 4 von 5 Deutschen verwenden Online-Bezahldienste

WiWo, hier. 

GOOGLE AND GDPR HAND PUBLISHERS A HARD CHOICE

AdAge, here. 

Online platforms under fire as EU pushes for transparency on search results

EurActiv, here. 

Big tech, power and responsibility

FT, Big Picture, Audio here. 

Is Blockchain Hype, Revolutionary, or Both? What We Need to Know.

TPI, here. 

Why the net giants are worried about the Web 3.0

G. Zago, here. 

ACCC chair Rod Sims puts Google, Facebook on notice

Theaustralian.com.au, here. 

Canberra creates a brave new data world

The Mandarin, here. 

It’s not just monopoly and monopsony

EPI, here. 

Analyse: Warum an den Payment-Coup der Deutschen Bank ein paar Fragezeichen gehören

Finanz-Szene.de, hier. 

Microsoft Pay comes to Outlook, integrating Stripe, Braintree, Sage, Wave and more

TechCrunch, here. 

Saturday, May 05, 2018

I thought you might like this visualization of the terms and conditions of the different apps


@dimitryarov

Datenschutz und Technikgestaltung

J. Pohle, hier.
🐌🐌🐌

Implications of E-commerce for Competition Policy

OECD, Background Note, here.

(Many overlaps with previously discussed topics; and plain vanilla shopping is the new e-commerce).