Competition law problems in the process of digitalization of financial services

The digitalization of markets in financial services is completely changing the traditional actors and the traditional competitive dynamics. Banks and insurance institutions, known as traditional actors, compete not only with each other but also with many different actors in many different sectors brought about by digitalization. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the phenomena caused by digitalization in terms of competition law and to identify the problems in practice. This thesis will focus on structural and behavioral competitive concerns arising in digital financial services markets, network effects, self-preferencing practices, new actors in the field of digital finance, multilateral markets, big technology undertakings (BigTech) and the transfer of market power of big technology undertakings to the financial services market, the possible effects of barriers to entry on competition law, and the inadequacy of traditional competition law tools in dealing with these problems arising in the digitalization of financial services. In conclusion, the thesis argues that a dynamic, innovative, interdisciplinary and collaborative competition law policy should be developed to address the anti-competitive concerns in the FinTech and FinTech ecosystem in order to establish a competitive environment and promote the protection of consumer welfare. Indeed, the dynamics in the digital financial services market are quite significant to be left to the initiative of the free market and require proactive government intervention. Keywords: Digitalization, Financial Services, FinTech, BigTech, Abuse of Dominance Position, Open Banking.