OVERVIEW

The course aims to provide students with the adequate tools to understand and critically analyze from the legal point of view the challenges that technological evolution entails for the financial sector, with the objective of acquiring useful skills in the future working environment. It will focus on the Italian and European law applicable to Fintech/Digital finance and, therefore, to financial services provided through the use of the most important, recent and continously evolving technologies, underlying the main legal issues and possible solutions. The entire course will be offered in English. 

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with the adequate tools to understand and critically analyze from the legal point of view the challenges that technological evolution entails for the financial sector, with the objective of acquiring useful skills to apply in the future working environment. Students, after an overview of the main notions and provisions in banking regulation (TUB/CRD-CRR/PSD-PAD/BRRD, etc.) and investment services and financial markets law (Italian financial markets code and relative Consob Regulations; main European Directives and Regulations in the financial law field), will apply such knowledge to the context of the main Fintech/Digital finance categories, delving into the most significant aspects. For each of the main applications, in fact, the students will analyze the most relevant risks and benefits, legal issues raised, regulatory responses and doctrines, with special reference to the Italian and European regulatory framework, in addition to the main international principles and guidelines, with comparative law insights. Lectures providing explanations and commentary on the laws will be accompanied by the analysis of practical cases, judicial decisions and collective discussions and practical exercises, in order to allow students, not only to understand the topics discussed from a legal point of view but also to acquire the tools to navigate with confidence and at a professional level the new digital economy, applying legal rules and reasoning to practical cases and specific issues. Consequently, the course has a multi-disciplinary approach, addressing aspects of law and economics, ethics of law/finance and sociology. Experts from the sector will be invited to share their precious experience and knowledge.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Knowledge and understanding: the students will acquire adequate knowledge and understanding of the main concepts and rules in the area of banking law and capital markets (with particular regard to TUB, TUF and EU law) applied to digital economy, fintech and sustainability (advanced alphabetic-functional competence with assignment of open badge)
• Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. The students will be able to apply the knowledge to practical cases, conduct research and understand and solve technical issues emerging in practice in deploying technology to the financial sector
• Critical and autonomous thinking. The students will develop the ability to use and apply their knowledge from a theoretical and practical point of view in different contexts, with autonomous critical thinking (advanced personal compentence with assignment of open badge)
• Communication skills. The students will acquire the ability to use the technical language used by lawyers and by the financial sector to communicate with professionals, experts but also the general public; thanks to the participation to the seminars and work groups, students will develop soft skills (presentation, communication, team work: advanced social competence; creative competence with assignment of open badge)
• Learning skills. The students will develop learning skills which will allow them to keep deepen independently new issues and future applications in the area of financial innovation and to adequately deal with the challenges that might emerge in their future working context (advanced learn how to learn competence with assignment of open badge).

PREREQUISITES

Previous basic knowledge of EU law, business law and contracts is recommended but not essential.

TEACHING METHODS

Lessons (with active participation of students; role-playing; instant polling; case-based learning with assignment of open-badge) and seminars (with presentations by students and by external experts: team-based learning, case-based and problem-based learning, debate, role playing; with assignment of 4 soft skills/open badges). 

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should visit the page https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa (students section) and contact Prof. Macchiavello, the reference contact for the Economic Department Prof. Elena Lagomarsino (inclusione.economia@unige.it) and the competent administrative office (inclusione.studenti@info.unige.it).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Part I: first overview/background

• Banking sector, financial markets and insurance: general principles as regards regulation and supervision in Italy (Banca d’Italia, Consob, etc.) and at European level (Banking Union, European Supervisory Authorities, etc.)
  • Credit institutions, various financial services providers (Art. 106 TUB, PSPs/EMP, etc) (only briefly)
  • Investment firms, markets, institutional investors and collective investment vehicles (TUF, Consob Regulations; MiFID II/MiFIR, etc.): authorisation and requirements (prudential, organizational, etc.;), supervision
  • Insurance firms and reinsurance (only briefly)
  • AML/CT and other additional relevant laws
• Client protection
  • Protection of credit institutions’ clients
  • Investor protection

Part II: Fintech and financial regulation (general)

• Fintech and digital economy: overview
  • Overview of main features and elements.
  • Focus on banking, payment, financial markets sectors
• Fintech and the law
  • Main legal issues (legal classifications, applicable law, level-playing field, etc.).
  • Regulatory and supervisory context (national/EU/international) (Digital Finance Strategy).
  • New approaches (innovation hubs, sandbox, opt-in regimes, RegTech e SupTech, etc.)

Part III: Analysis of specific Fintech in relation to relevant financial regulation

• Platform economy
  • Digital platform in general and specifically in the financial sector. In particular, crowdfunding platforms
    • Lending-based crowdfunding
    • Investment-based crowdfunding
    • Invoice trading
    • Regulation on European Crowdfunding Service Providers for Business (1503/2020)
• Blockchain, virtual currencies and tokens
  • DLT and application in the financial sector
  • Smart contracts
  • Crypto-assets; Tokens, Initial Coin Offering e ulteriori declinazioni (Initial Security Offerings, Initial Exchange Offerings, etc.), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (recent EU DLT pilot and MiCAR ).
• Artificial intelligence, big data
  • Main applications in the financial field and legal issues; main risks and benefits (data protection, fairness, transparency, accountability, algo-governance, etc.)
  • In particular, robo-advice and law on investment advice and individual portfolio management
  • Trading venues and high frequency trading
  • Insurtech (Pay-as-you go, automatic underwriting/payment, peer-to-peer insurance: briefly)
  • Price discrimination, creditworthiness assessment
• Fintech banks and authorisation
• Digital payments
  • banks, PSP/EMP, credit cards and fintech innovations: open banking and open finance. PSD 2 and third party providers
  • Cyber-security and ‘DORA’ proposal
• Big-tech and financial services
  • Big-tech entering the banking and payment sectors: main issues.
  • Banking-as-a-service, banking-as-a-platform, neo-banks/neo-brokers and digital platforms; cloud computing, outsourcing 

Part IV. New frontiers: Green fintech/sustainable digital finance

• sustainable development and UN SDGs (2030 agenda); EU policies in favour of sustainable development
• the role of sustainable finance in achieving the UN SDGs
• The EU sustainable finance action plan (2018) and strategy (2021) and subsequent acts (including 2025 Omnibus packages)
• Analysis of the main legal instruments in the area and impact on pre-existing financial regulation: EU green taxonomy, CSRD and SFDR, climate-related benchmarks and ecolabel, MiFID II and sustainability preferences; prudential regulation/supervision and sustainability risks
• green fintech/sustainable digital finance: main applications /green crowdfunding, green tokens, DLT-based p2p energy grids, use of big data and from satellites and AI for ESG assessment, etc.) and legal issues. 

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Slides and recommended material will be available through Aulaweb 2026/2027. 

For the general part on financial regulation, students could refer, during  the academic year 2025/2026, on the following handbooks: 

o De Poli Matteo, Fundamentals of European Banking Law, Kluwer, 2020 + Rüdiger Veil, European Capital Markets Law, Bloomsbury 2020 (or more recent edition)

o Matthias Haentjens & Pierre De Gioia Carabellese, European Banking and Financial Law, Routledge, 2020 (or more recent edition)

For 2026, it will be also available: 

Filippo Annunziata, Foundations of EU Capital Markets Law, EE, 2026

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

September 2026 (please refer to Aulaweb 2026/27 and easyacademy for up-todate information).

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam but active participation in class and presentations and comments at seminars will be taken into account for the final grade of students regularly attending classes. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

During the exam, students will be assessed based on their knowledge about the topics covered in class, as well as their understanding of the digital finance market, forces and rationes behind regulatory frameworks adopted in this area as well as for the acquisition of an adequate level of specialistic language. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

Please refer to Aulaweb and ask the professor for further information not included in the teaching schedule.