Markets regulators struggling to keep up with technology

The rapid growth of digital assets and computer-driven investment advice has become a key challenge for regulators in trying to keep up with technological advances while seeking to protect investors, a US markets regulator said on Monday.

Robert Jackson, a commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the agency was seeking to enact laws that facilitate the changes in technologies. One issue the SEC was grappling with was “robo advisors” - algorithms that help people make investment decisions.

“I know what it looks like when a human being commits fraud,” Jackson told an Israel Securities Authority conference.

“It’s a lot harder to detect when an algorithm defrauds the investor. But investors deserve no less protection simply because money is being moved around by an algorithm.”