The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) publishes a Draft Regulation on Establishing Regulatory Laboratory (Sandbox) Framework (hereinafter - "Regulation") for public discussion, as part of the technology development support approach.

Sandbox is a framework set by the Supervisor, that financial institutions allows under the supervisory authority of the NBG and any interested entity, which has applied to get licensed/registered it's activities as subject to the supervisory authority of the NBG, to test an innovative service and/or product in the supervised environment and the real-time regime. Purpose of the Sandbox is to clarify if innovative financial services and/or products, created in terms of rapidly developing financial technologies, comply with the requirements set forth by the NBG within its supervisory mandate, to identify the need for new regulatory requirements, to test innovative financial products and facilitate their development in the market. Mentioned innovative service and/or product should not contain systemic risks.

The Regulation specifies the necessary documentation that the NBG may require from an applicant based on the use of specific innovative technology. If necessary, the documentation may also include a plan to terminate use of innovative technology. Successful use of the Sandbox implies completion of three pre-defined stages: "Idea Testing", "Concept Testing" and "Test for product application in the Real Environment". After successful completion of these three stages, if necessary, the NBG will consider the reflection of the new technology use rules in the supervisory framework and supervisory approaches.

The NBG is ready to receive comments and remarks on the draft regulation from interested parties by March 13, 2020 on the e-mail: sandbox@nbg.gov.ge.

The Regulation is available at https://www.nbg.gov.ge/index.php?m=696.