Regulating digitalised financial spaces: The way towards just distribution of burdens and benefits

The rapid advancement of digitalisation has revolutionised various aspects of contemporary society, profoundly impacting the way individuals, businesses and governments interact and operate. In this chapter, we focus on the regulation of finance, a key infrastructure that has undergone vast digitalisation. Central to this discourse is the exploration of one of the latest EU regulatory initiatives, namely the Digital Finance Strategy and, more precisely, the European Financial Data Space (EFDS). The European single data spaces policy, of which the EFDS is a part, represents a pivotal attempt to harness the potential of data-driven innovation within the EU. The data spaces epitomise a concerted effort to create common ground where diverse stakeholders, including businesses, public administrations and individuals, can securely access and exchange data in a trusted environment. By fostering collaboration and data sharing while safeguarding privacy, security and other crucial values, this policy initiative aspires to unlock new avenues for economic growth and societal progress. The creation and maintenance of fair relationships among actors of the data economy is one of the key regulatory objectives.

However, the data spaces and, in the case of the present chapter in particular, the EFDS might not benefit everyone equally and might not impose an equal burden on everyone. Such a perspective on fair relationships brings to mind what is probably one of the most common understandings of justice, namely justice as fairness.^[1] As such, this chapter adopts fairness as a lens to evaluate whether the EFDS succeeds in creating a more level playing field within the financial ecosystem. In accordance with such an account of justice, the policymaker should provide 128fair (ie equal) liberties and opportunities for everyone.^[2] This, in turn, invites two essential questions, which this chapter intends to address. Firstly, what are the current regulatory approaches? Do they come with a promise of a just distribution of the burdens and benefits for the actors involved? Secondly, Who will carry the burdens? Who will be the greatest beneficiaries of the EFDS?

In examining how digitalisation impacts regulation, this chapter discusses the evolution of regulatory strategies in increasingly digitalised financial infrastructures. It provides a preliminary reflection on the risks to values, such as the protection of privacy, personal data and justice, which data spaces may entail and proposes to advance the debate on just regulation of digitalised spaces. The EFDS attempts to foster a level playing field, where diverse actors, from large financial institutions to individual consumers, can operate within a system that ensures equitable opportunities. While it is true that banks and customers differ significantly in their resources and influence, fairness in this context does not imply treating them as equals in their capacities. Instead, it seeks to mitigate structural disparities by ensuring that customers have meaningful control over their financial data, access to transparent information, and protection against discriminatory practices. The focus on fairness as equal opportunities in our analysis is thus aimed at unpacking whether the EFDS successfully addresses these disparities and creates an environment where all actors (despite their differences) are empowered to engage in a fairer and more inclusive financial ecosystem.

The chapter begins by elucidating the most crucial developments of the digitalisation of finance and its regulation. To that end, section 2 discusses the historical milestones and sets the stage for the debate on the promises and problems the discussed developments entail. Then, section 3 focuses on the financial data space and sheds some light on its three building components. Section 4 briefly reflects on how this new regulatory initiative may (or may not) shape the ‘just’ distribution of burdens and benefits and explores what such justice means in the context of the most recent regulatory approaches to the digitalisation processes in the area of finance. Finally, section 5 summarises all findings and provides answers to the research questions.

Notes

^1]J Rawls and E Kelly, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (Harvard University Press 2001).

^[2]B Barry and M Matravers, ‘Justice’, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Routledge 2016). Available at: www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/justice/v-1.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781509987511.ch-007

This book chapter was published in Regulating Digitalised Financial Spaces, page 127-148.

Kempeneer, S. , & BrewczyńSka, M. (2026). Regulating Digitalised Financial Spaces: The Way Towards Just Distribution of Burdens and Benefits. In S. Ruhela , O. Hrynkiv & S. Lavrijssen (Ed.). Regulatory Strategies for Energy and Finance: Sustainability in a Digitalised World (pp. 127–148). Oxford Dublin: Hart Publishing. Retrieved July 30, 2026, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781509987511.ch-007

Keywords: European Financial Data Space (EFDS), Digital Finance, Financial Regulation, Data Governance, Data Sharing