FinTech Voice, April 11, 2024

Hi Community,

It's Q4 of FY23-24 already! But we're proud of what we've been able to achieve for the industry this quarter - see highlights here.

This week the government announced its proposal to overhaul Australia’s merger laws. This is receiving a lot of media attention but we don't believe the M&A regulation will immediately or directly affect the fintech sector. Many fintech deals now negotiated today would be well under the threshold of scrutiny put in place by the ACCC. See more details in the policy section but note it is one we will keep an eye on as the industry evolves.

Treasury also confirmed there will be further consultation on new regulations covering digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Nick, Head of Policy, shared his comments with Capital Brief that "If we see similar timelines (as those for buy now, pay later legislation) for crypto or payments reforms being drafted, these might not come into effect until as late as 2026 once election related delays and transitional periods are accounted for."

We would like to share with you an early version of our interactive Regulatory Forecast Map. This is an interactive overview of regulatory changes, milestones and consultation processes relevant to the Australian fintech ecosystem. We're still working out a few bugs but we hope this would be an important resource for the ecosystem.

We will soon announce

The finalists of the Finnie awards and launch tickets for the gala night
The CDR Summit details, tickets and agenda
An update on the Reverse banking event
More events in the pipeline
Our biggest ever edition of the Intersekt Fintech Festival.

Kind regards,

Rehan D’Almeida,

Chief Executive Officer,

FinTech Australia

Policy Update

Senate passes Digital ID legislation

The the Digital ID Bill currently before Parliament has now passed the Senate, following 27 Government amendments and 16 amendments by the Greens.

A key amendment made to the Bill was the introduced phased timeframe of opening up the digital ID scheme to the private sector entities, which has been reduced from four to two years. The amended Bill will now return to the House of Representatives in the next sitting period.

New Senate Committee inquiry on AI

The Senate has established a new Select Committee for Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) to inquire into the opportunities and impacts arising out of the uptake of AI technologies in Australia.

The committee has called for written submissions by 10 May 2024 and plans to table a final report in September.

New Merger laws mooted

The Government has announced it will strengthen the ACCC's powers to vet merger and acquisition transactions.

A new mandatory regime for seeking approval and ACCC clearance will be introduced, replacing the existing voluntary informal regime. Paired with this major change will be clearer timelines for the ACCC's reviews and new fees for merger clearance applications.

We expect the changes are unlikely to impact most fintech transactions and thresholds will be set (likely to be based on turnover, profitability, or transaction value) to exclude smaller and non high risk transactions from the new requirements.

FinTech Australia makes submission to NSW Innovation Blueprint consultation

Investment NSW recently consulted on the development of a new Innovation Blueprint to guide the NSW Government's future approach to promoting innovation.

Our submission recommended a focus on:

Prioritising fintech as a priority area for NSW led initiatives, including grant programs and direct support.
Expanding initiatives to increase the amount and diversity of funding available to startups and scaleups.
Supporting innovation industry events.
Continuing support for innovation networks and spaces (e.g. Startup Hubs, Innovation Precincts and Accelerator Programs).
Expanding trade, investment and internationalisation support.
Broadening NSW Government procurement processes to engage more SMEs, including fintech and regtech businesses.

We recently made submissions on:

See our recent submissions on our website.

FinTech Australia regularly makes submissions to consultations across a wide range of policy and regulatory issues. Communications about how to get involved in these processes are distributed to our Policy Working Group membership.

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Get excited for events and opportunities from FinTech Australia and the community!

The 8th annual Finnie Awards Gala Night will be held on the 6th of June in Sydney this year! Ticket sales will be announced soon.
CDR Showcase is back this year as CDR Summit! Save the date for the 3rd of July in The Hilton, Sydney. If you'd like to host your own satellite events, please reply to this email.
The Financial Conduct Authority is holding a cohort-basedMarket Abuse Surveillance TechSprint looking into how AI-powered solutions can help enhance the detection of market abuse. Applications are open until 22 April 2024.
Applications are closing this week for the next cohort of Mastercard’s Startpath Open Banking Program! If you are a scale up or startup who utilize open banking and open finance to support innovation and product in financial services, this opportunity might be for you.
If you are planning to go to any of the global fintech events this year, please let us know so we can help with introductions, discounted tickets, and a planned mission program to some of these events.

Save these dates! For more events and opportunities from the community, click here.

Community Updates

Don’t miss all the news and insights from our members and corporate partners from our newsroom.

TRAction and oneZero's Enhanced Integration for Trade Reporting Solutions. Read More.
Digital ID — A Step Forward for a More Secure Digital Economy. Read More.
Pennant Technologies Releases Perspectives 2024 on Trends shaping the Lending Industry. Read More.
Frollo Study Shows Open Banking Delivers Superior Data Quality. Read More.
Australian fintech and business environment — what's to come in 2024? Read More.
Moroku, Deloitte and the Isle of Man Partner to Shape the Future of Banking and Payments. Read More.
Endava recently released the 2024 APAC Retail Banking Report which takes a closer look at global survey responses on the current state of retail banking at financial institutions of all different sizes. Read the report here.
The government announced its proposal to overhaul Australia’s merger laws — whereby companies have to notify the ACCC if their transactions meet certain thresholds, and they can’t complete the deal unless the ACCC clears it. Read More.