PRESS RELEASE: FinTech Australia Welcomes the Treasurer's response to the FinTech Australia Reform Priorities

Today Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison MP formally announced the governments response to FinTech Australias Reform Priorities Paper. FinTech Australia is thrilled to see the government boldly committing to support FinTech Australias ambition of making Australia the leading market for FinTech innovation and investment in Asia by 2017.The government has committed to wide ranging change across the financial services regulatory landscape to make Australia the most attractive regulatory environment for FinTech. In particular, it has committed to:

• Creating a workable Regulatory Sandbox for startup ventures to experiment with improved mechanisms for the delivery of financial services to consumers without having to spend their scarce startup capital on licencing before even testing their model
• Addressing the ineligibility of many FinTech ventures to receive investment from VC funds registered under the Venture Capital Act
• Continuing to refine the Crowd Funding regulation to bring it up to par with other leading FinTech markets
• Referring progress on Comprehensive Credit Reporting, and the opportunity to create more open access to financial data generally, to the Productivity Commission
• Issuing of fresh guidelines in relation to wealth advice tailored specifically to Robo-Advisors
• Addressing the double GST currently applicable to bitcoin and other digital currencies and reviewing the application of AML and CTF laws to digital currencies to address the inability of digital currency operators secure banking relationshipsThe development of funds management passports with China

Simon Cant, President of FinTech Australia said There are some great quick wins and strong commitments to further action here. FinTech Australia is looking forward to continuing to work with the government to make this happen.Its also great to see broader representation of the FinTech community on the FinTech Advisory Group including Charlotte Petris, CEO of Timelio and Vice President of FinTech Australia and Stuart Stoyan, CEO and Founder of MoneyPlace, and a FinTech Australia board member. The Australian FinTech community has demonstrated a remarkable capacity to self organize and collaborate across state and other boundaries over the last two years with the establishment of two FinTech Hubs and most recently, the establishment of FinTech Australia. I think we are seeing the results of that collective action in the focus that the government is rightly bringing to this important sector.As the Treasurer has acknowledged, financial services, and in particular FinTech, is the engine room of the Australian economy, enabling all other industries to grow and transact. With hundreds of dynamic rapidly growing FinTech ventures transforming financial services for Australian consumers and businesses giving them better advice and information, a better experience and a better deal the Treasurers commitment to supporting this sector bodes well not just for Australian FinTech startups, but for the Australian economy overall.-End-About FinTech AustraliaFinTech Australia is a national association for the Australian FinTech Startup community. Our vision is to make Australia the leading market for FinTech in Asia by working with Government, Industry and the Australian FinTech community to create a supportive environment and partner ecosystem in Australia and abroad.Media ContactSimon CantPresidentFintech AustraliaPh. 0412 483 621Email: hello@FintechAustralia.org.au