Outsourcing of Banking Services and economic dependence on Third Party Providers1

Technological and digital innovation has brought about, particularly in recent decades, significant strategic implications for businesses, reshaping the competitive landscape and market dynamics across various economic sectors. The recent wave of digitalization in the banking sector - especially in the area of payments - and the adoption of access and network technologies have created a range of opportunities for both newcomers (such as FinTech firms) and incumbents (namely traditional banks), eager to capture new market shares. This transformation has been made possible primarily by the emergence of platform-based business models, which diverge from the traditional vertically integrated structure of firms.
This paper aims to investigate the potential implications of applying antitrust legal instruments to the specific forms of economic dependence stemming from the novel business models that have emerged within the payment services market.