Studia Prawnicze. Rozprawy i Materiały / Studies in Law: Research Papers

Abstract

The rapid growth of financial technology (FinTech) in the European Union has catalysed a complex regulatory response designed to protect consumers while sustaining digital market competition. This article undertakes a doctrinal legal analysis of the principal EU legislative instruments governing e-banking in the FinTech sector, focusing on the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). The central argument is that the current EU regulatory framework, while broadly advancing consumer protection goals, generates structural tensions with FinTech innovation through overlapping compliance obligations, fragmented national implementation, and proportionality deficits that disproportionately burden smaller market participants. Through textual analysis of primary legislation, interpretation of CJEU jurisprudence in Kušionová v SMART Capital a.s. (C-34/13) and FS and WU v First Bank SA (C-593/22), and evaluation of authoritative
institutional reports, the article identifies three normative fault lines: the PSD2 and GDPR interface and its data-sharing tensions; the
gatekeeping architecture of the DMA and its competitive implications for FinTech ecosystems; and DORA’s cybersecurity mandates and their asymmetric compliance burden. The article concludes that the EU is at a normative inflection point and argues for proportionate, coherent, and forward-looking legal mechanisms capable of accommodating emerging digital finance paradigms.