In recent years, some important technological advancements gave rise to new companies in the field of digital payment services, which are now both cooperating and competing with banks and traditional financial institutions.

At the same time, digital platforms are becoming more and more interested in directly providing financial services associated with their core activities: for example, Uber launched a loan program to help drivers buy a car and Airbnb started an initiative with several lenders to support hosts in refinancing their mortgages.

Furthermore, the development of blockchain  technology is tightly connected to the spread of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which tried to reshape the world of monetary transaction according to the idea and principles of distributed networks.

All these dramatic changes will have a tremendous impact on the financial sector and will force regulators to elaborate new rules in order to cope with potential market failures and other problems.