FinTech Voice December 22, 2022
Dear Community,
As we wrap up this tumultuous year and watch 2023 unravel, I would like to thank you again. As the EY Fintech Census this year has reiterated, the ecosystem as a whole must rally. Your ongoing support has helped us grow to better service the industry.
For those who missed Intersekt Fintech Festival or any sessions at the conference, all sessions are now available on Youtube!
If you’re interested in learning more about the fintech market in India or launching your operations in the market, Austrade will be leading a number of initiatives to help Australian businesses in India in 2023. Touch base with Stu to learn more.
FinTech Australia will be closed from 26 December to 6 January.
Wishing you and your teams a wonderful festive season and I look forward to your continued success in the new year!
Regards,
Rehan D’Almeida,
General Manager,
FinTech Australia
The third edition of ‘The State of Open Banking’ is packed with research, insights, interviews & case studies to help you make better decisions about your Open Banking strategy.
Learn from early adopters, access consumer research, dive into our data quality analysis and more.
Download the State of Open Banking 2023.
Government outlines reform plans for 2023 across payments, crypto, market infrastructure
The Government has announced its financial system reform plans for the new year.
Consultation on crypto ‘token mapping’ will now commence in early 2023, followed by consultation on a custody and licensing framework before introducing legislation next year.
A range of payments system measures, originally recommended in the Farrell Payments System Review, will also be progressed next year. A Strategic Plan for Payments will be released in Q1 2023, followed by:
consultation on a new payments licensing framework for payment service providers;
consultation on a Ministerial designation power that would allow particular payments services or platforms of national significance to be subject to additional regulatory oversight; and
an update to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 to ensure the RBA can regulate new and emerging payment systems, like digital wallets.
We are pleased to see the Government announce a clear roadmap for this package of long-awaited reforms to the Australian payments system and hope the pace of implementation picks up.
The Government will also implement recommendations by the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) to improve Australia’s financial market infrastructure by providing the RBA with powers to step in and resolve a crisis at a domestic clearing and settlement facility.
Consultation begins on Strategic Plan for the Payments System
Treasury has opened consultation to seek input into the Strategic Plan for the future of Australia’s payments system.
The Plan is intended to be a long-term strategy setting out the Government’s policy objectives and priorities for the payments system. This consultation paper will help determine the key objectives and priorities for the Plan, and how it can be used to better coordinate action across the industry. The consultation paper also sets out key principles, priorities and a range of proposed initiatives.
The Plan will be finalised and released in the first quarter of 2023.
Submissions are due by 6 February 2023. FinTech Australia will make a submission.
National Reconstruction Fund to consider investment in fintech
The Department of Industry is consulting on the implementation of the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund (NRF). Modelled on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the NRF will provide finance (including loans, guarantees and equity) to drive investments that add value and develop capability.
The NRF will invest across seven priority areas, including enabling capabilities across engineering, data science and software development. Fintech is specifically mentioned in the consultation paper as an area the NRF could invest in to support innovation, early-stage research and development, and commercialisation.
Submissions are due by 3 February 2023. FinTech Australia will make a submission.
Current consultations
We are keeping busy over the holiday period with work continuing on submissions to consultations on:
We have 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.
Introducing the next generation of IAG’s leading InsurTech Accelerator programme the programme lays the foundations for start-ups to land and expand into new markets, find new potential partners and investors, and test their insurance use cases with Australia and New Zealand’s largest general insurer, IAG. Apply here
Nauggets app launches in Australia making gold more accessible with instant account-toaccount payments powered by Azupay a specialist real-time payments fintech, putting gold in reach of anyone with an Australian bank account 24/7 365 days a year. See here
GoCardless becomes first ‘PayTo ready’ international payments company a global leader in direct bank payment solutions, has today announced it is officially live in the market with PayTo, an instant account-to-account payment method that has been designed to replace Australia’s traditional Direct Debit network in approximately three to five years. See here
Market Strategies for Aussie Technology Companies Interested in learning more about the fintech market in India or launching your operations in the market? Austrade will be leading a number of initiatives to help Australian businesses in India in 2023. Touch base with Stu (stu@fintechaustralia.org.au) to learn more.
Don’t miss all the news and insights from our members and corporate partners from our newsroom.
Superhero, a leading share trading and superannuation platform, has today released its annual Year in Trades review, digging into the most-traded assets on its platform in 2022.
Yondr and Bill hero partner to help customers save money on rising energy costs
Open finance API platform, Basiq, has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the imminent risk to businesses relying on access to customer banking data via web connectors
CreditorWatch Business Risk Index (BRI) reveals that the usual trade momentum going into December has failed to materialise and businesses should brace for a more subdued Christmas trading period.
RSM Australia’s national technology group lead, Mathavan Parameswaran, said tech firms nursing loss-making results would be prioritising efforts to curtail operational costs.
FeeSynergy and FilePro now integrate to provide end-to-end solutions for legal firms