Innovation facilitators in the EU

Country	Facilitator Type*	Link to Innovation Facilitator	Name & link to website	Banking	Insurance	Securities/ Markets
Austria	Sandbox	Kontaktstelle FinTech & Sandbox / FMA-Sandbox	FINANZMARKTAUFSICHTSBEHÖRDE (FMA)	X	X	X
Austria	Innovation Hub	Kontaktstelle FinTech	FINANZMARKTAUFSICHTSBEHÖRDE (FMA)	X	X	X
Belgium	Innovation Hub	Fintech Contact Point	Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA)	X	X	X
Belgium	Innovation Hub	Fintech Contact Point	NATIONAL BANK OF BELGIUM (NBB)	X	X	X
Bulgaria	Innovation Hub	Innovation Hub	Financial Supervision Commission (FSC)		X	X
Croatia	Innovation Hub	Innovation Hub	Croatian National Bank	X
Croatia	Innovation Hub	Innovation Hub	Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Aagency		X	X
Cyprus	Innovation Hub	Innovation Hub	Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission			X
Czech Republic	Contact Point	FinTech contact point/kontaktní místo pro FinTech	Czech National Bank/Česká národní banka	X	X	X
Denmark	Sandbox	FT Lab	FINANSTILSYNET	X	X	X
Denmark	Innovation Hub	Fintech-team	FINANSTILSYNET	X	X	X
Estonia	Innovation Hub	FinTech working group	FINANCIAL SUPERVISION AUTHORITY (FI)	X	X	X
Finland	Innovation Hub	FIN-FSA Innovation Helpdesk	FIN-FSA	X	X	X
France	Innovation Hub	ACPR FinTech Innovation Hub	AUTORITÉ DE CONTRÔLE PRUDENTIEL ET DE RESOLUTION (ACPR)	X	X	X
France	Innovation Hub	Division Fintech Innovation Compétitivité	AUTORITE DES MARCHES FINANCIERS (AMF)			X
Germany	Innovation Hub	Unternehmensgründer und Fintechs Kontaktformular für Unternehmensgründer und Fintechs Company start-ups and fintech companies Contact form for start-ups and fintechs	BUNDESANSTALT FÜR FINANZDIENSTLEISTUNGSAUFSICHT (BaFin)	X	X	X
Greece	Innovation Hub	BoG FinTech Innovation Hub	BANK OF GREECE	X	X
Greece	Sandbox	BoG Regulatory Sandbox	BANK OF GREECE	X	X
Greece	Innovation Hub	HCMC Innovation Hub	Hellenic Capital Market Commission			X
Hungary	Innovation Hub	MNB Innovation Hub	CENTRAL BANK OF HUNGARY (MAGYAR NEMZETI BANK - MNB)	X	X	X
Hungary	Sandbox	MNB Financial Innovation Testing Environment	CENTRAL BANK OF HUNGARY (MAGYAR NEMZETI BANK - MNB)	X	X	X
Iceland	Innovation Hub	Þjónustuborð vegna fjármálatækni (e. FinTech)	FINANCIAL SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY (Fjármálaeftirlitið - FME)	X	X	X
Ireland	Innovation Hub	Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) Innovation Hub	CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND (CBI)	X	X	X
Italy	Innovation Hub	Canale FinTech	BANCA D’ITALIA	X
Italy	Innovation Hub	IVASS Working group on Insurtech	ISTITUTO di VIGILANZA SULLE ASSICURAZIONI (IVASS)		X
Latvia	Innovation Hub	Innovation Hub and Sandbox	FINANCIAL AND CAPITAL MARKET COMMISSION	X	X	X
Latvia	Sandbox	Innovation Hub and Sandbox	FINANCIAL AND CAPITAL MARKET COMMISSION	X	X	X
Liechtenstein	Innovation Hub	Regulatory Laboratory / Financial Innovation	FINANCIAL MARKET AUTHORITY (FMA)	X	X	X
Lithuania	Sandbox	Regulatory sandbox Lithuania	BANK OF LITHUANIA	X	X	X
Lithuania	Innovation Hub	Innovation Committee	BANK OF LITHUANIA	X	X	X
Luxembourg	Innovation Hub	Financial Innovation - CSSF	COMMISSION DE SURVEILLANCE DU SECTEUR FINANCIER	X		X
Malta	Sandbox	MFSA FinTech Regulatory Sandbox	Malta Financial Services Authority	X	X	X
Netherlands	Sandbox	Sandbox	DE NEDERLANDSCHE BANK (DNB) AUTHORITY FOR FINANCIAL MARKETS (AFM)	X	X	X
Netherlands	Innovation Hub	InnovationHub	DE NEDERLANDSCHE BANK (DNB) AUTHORITY FOR FINANCIAL MARKETS (AFM)	X	X	X
Norway	Innovation Hub	Finansiell teknologi (FinTech)	FINANSTILSYNET	X	X	X
Norway	Sandbox	Finanstilsynets regulatoriske sandkasse	FINANSTILSYNET	X	X	X
Poland	Sandbox	KNF Regulatory Sandbox	POLISH FINANCIAL SUPERVISION AUTHORITY (KOMISJA NADZORU FINANSOWEGO - KNF)	X	X	X
Poland	Innovation Hub	KNF Innovation Hub Programme	POLISH FINANCIAL SUPERVISION AUTHORITY (KOMISJA NADZORU FINANSOWEGO - KNF)	X	X	X
Portugal	Innovation Hub	Portugal Finlab	BANCO DE PORTUGAL COMISSAO DO MERCADO DE VALORES MOBILIARIOS AUTORIDADE DE SUPERVISAO DE SEGUROS E DE FUNDOS DE PENSOES	X	X	X
Portugal	Innovation Hub	FinTech+	BANCO DE PORTUGAL	X
Romania	Innovation Hub	FinTech Hub (includes a dedicated section related to insurance - (InsurTech))	ASF	X		X
Slovakia	Innovation Hub	Innovation Hub	NATIONAL BANK OF SLOVAKIA	X	X	X
Slovenia	Innovation Hub	Banka Slovenije Fintech Innovation Hub	BANKA SLOVENIJE	X
Spain	Innovation Hub	FINTECH PORTAL / INNOVATION PORTAL	CNMV			X
Spain	Sandbox	Entry Point Sandbox Tesoro Público	BANCO DE ESPANA CNMV DGSFP	X	X	X
Sweden	Innovation Hub	Finansinspektionen's Innovation Center	FINANSINSPEKTIONEN (FINANCIAL SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY - FI)	X	X	X

* Two main categories of innovation facilitator can be identified:
1) Innovation hubs: these provide a dedicated point of contact for firms to raise enquiries with competent authorities on FinTech-related issues and to seek non-binding guidance on the conformity of innovative financial products, financial services or business models with licensing or registration requirements and regulatory and supervisory expectations.
2) Regulatory sandboxes: these provide a scheme to enable firms to test, pursuant to a specific testing plan agreed and monitored by a dedicated function of the competent authority, innovative financial products, financial services or business models. Sandboxes may also imply the use of legally provided discretions by the relevant supervisor (with use depending on the relevant applicable EU and national law)4 but sandboxes do not entail the disapplication of regulatory requirements that must be applied as a result of EU law.