At the request of the Dutch Minister of Finance, the Dutch
Authority for Consumers and Markets (Autoriteit Consument &
Markt; ACM) has initiated a market study into the activities of
major tech firms (referred to as Big Techs by the ACM) on the Dutch
payments market.
As examples of Big Techs, the ACM explicitly mentions Apple, Google, Amazon, and
Facebook (also commonly referred to as 'GAFA'). In its
market study, the ACM intends to additionally examine whether
Chinese Big Techs (such as Tencent and Alibaba) may enter the Dutch
payments market. If the answer to that question would be
affirmative, the main research questions will be what those plans
are, and what impact those plans would have on consumers and
businesses. What new payment options will become available? Will
sufficient market opportunities for small businesses remain?
