Fintech Voice, July 6, 2023

Written By Katrina Angelika

Hi FinTech,

We've received incredible support and a great turnout for our new CDR Showcase event that we hosted on June 29. Check out the pictures from the event. Thank you to those who made it a success.

I also wanted to thank all our members and partners again for all your contributions through the last financial year. We're here to support fintechs as they navigate through all the hurdles of growing their organisation so please reach out if there is any way we can help.

Intersekt fintech festival season is well and truly upon us! Tickets, final speaking spots, sponsorships are all filling up fast. Please reach out if you would like to participate in any way, or if you have any out-of-the-box ideas. We're receiving significant interest from international delegates and regulators this year!

Lastly, we have a new Member Spotlight! Featuring Spenda. Here's the article.

Kind regards,

Rehan D’Almeida,

General Manager,

FinTech Australia

Policy Update

Government responds to CFR de-banking recommendations

Last week the Government released its long-awaited response to the Council of Financial Regulators' report on Potential Policy Responses to De-banking in Australia.

The Government's response:

  • Agrees to work with the major banks to ensure there is more data collection and reporting on de-banking;

  • Supports in principle the transparency and fairness measures to ensure banks document and communicate their reasons for de-banking;

  • Supports in principle the major banks providing more guidance and publishing information on their requirements and risk tolerance; and

  • Notes a recommendation to provide fintechs with funding for capability uplift.

While these developments are welcome, these measures are the bare minimum and we are disappointed it took almost 10 months for the Government to respond to these relatively modest proposals.

We also note many of the outcomes rely on the banks taking voluntary action and the measures focus on future de-banking, offering little recourse for the many fintechs already de-banked or any prospect of being re-banked.

FinTech Australia has been a longtime advocate regarding the vast impact of de-banking and made multiple submissions in relation to this process, including at several Parliamentary committee hearings.

Consultation on climate-related financial disclosures

The Government has released a consultation paper on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure.

This process represents progress towards introducing standardised, internationally-aligned reporting requirements for businesses to make disclosures regarding governance, strategy, risk management, targets and metrics in relation to climate related plans, financial risks, and opportunities.

The proposed implementation of these climate disclosure requirements will be staggered, with large entities (i.e. Chapter 2M entities) required to start reporting first. 

Due to this initial focus on larger entities, FinTech Australia does not propose making a submission at this stage of consultation. Please reach out if you are interested in this process or making your own submission.

Startup Year legislation passes

Earlier last week, the Government passed legislation to implement the new Startup Year scheme. This new Startup Year HELP loan aims to assist eligible students to participate in accelerator program courses at Australian universities. 

FinTech Australia previously made a submission in support of the scheme and proposed keeping the initiative's selection criteria broad to ensure fintech startups can be eligible. We look forward to the forthcoming Guidelines which will provide more detail on eligibility criteria for accelerator programs.

RBA consults on default routing and tokenisation of debit cards

The Reserve Bank of Australia has released an Issues Paper on options for enhancing the competitiveness, efficiency and safety of Australia’s debit card market.

The paper covers two key issues: 

  • the practice of a default routing network being set at issuance on dual-network debit cards; and

  • the tokenisation of debit cards for the purpose of conducting online transactions.

FinTech Australia does not propose making a submission unless there is sufficient member interest. If you are interested in this consultation, please reach out to our policy team.

Current consultations

We are currently developing submissions to consultations on:

  1. Licensing of payment service providers – payment functions;

  2. Reforms to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998;

  3. Department of Industry, Science and Resources - Supporting Responsible AI : Discussion Paper;

We recently made submissions on:

  1. Modernising Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing consultation;

  2. Senator Bragg's Digital Asset (Market Regulation) Bill 2023;

  3. AFCA Rules and Operational Guidelines consultation.

  4. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into promoting economic dynamism, competition, and business formation;

  5. Privacy Act Review Report consultation;

  6. Treasury's consultation paper on crypto token mapping;

  7. Senate Economics Committee inquiry into the CDR Bill;

  8. CDR Non-bank lending sector design paper.

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

Learn how the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement (A-UKFTA) would benefit and create opportunities for fintechs and the wider technology sector from Austrade-UK Government joint webinar

 

Expression of Interest for Global Fintech Fest 2023 in Mumbai have opened! If you are a scale-up in fintech, digital health or edtech interested in expanding to India, join the event to learn about the Indian market and opportunities.

 

The Victorian Government have recently opened new funding programs for businesses and several programs are also expected to open shortly after the announcement of the federal government budget. Learn more about government fundings and grants.

Community Updates

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

Industry News

News from the fintech/finance/technology industry you don't want to miss!

New Members

Let's welcome FinTech Australia's new members! 🎉

FinTech Australia's Podcast

Listen to the challenges, opportunities, and stories from our community faces across the fintech industry in Australia! 🇦🇺

Our newest "Business Spotlight" episode chats with Stuart Low, founder & CEO of Biza.io where we discuss open banking use cases and the business' journey taking the Excellence in RegTech Award in Finnies 2023.

Katrina Angelika
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