FinTech Australia welcomes the introduction of bill to improve Crowd-sourced Equity Funding Legislation

Today a new bill has been introduced into parliament aimed at improving Australias recently created Crowd-sourced Equity Funding, or Equity Crowdfunding legislation. FinTech Australia welcomes the introduction of this bill, which represents a substantial step forward in making Australia internationally competitive in this vitally important area.Jonny Wilkinson, Co-Founder of Equitise said Equity Crowdfunding is an essential tool in modern capital markets that gives high growth companies the ability to access capital from a large number of investors and supporters.FinTech Australia, the Treasurers FinTech Advisory Group and the fintech industry have been working closely with various stakeholders to create an effective framework for Equity Crowdfunding that will provide Australian businesses the ability to raise capital in an efficient and modern way. Weve received a high level of support and enthusiasm from the government and opposition, who have both consulted extensively with industry and listened to our concerns.The proposed changes to increase the company eligibility criteria (the asset and turnover test) from $5m to $25m and reduction in cooling off period will allow more businesses to access Equity Crowdfunding as a mechanism to raise capital. This is particularly important as it provides a good amount of overlap between the new ASX listing requirements, and traditional private company funding opportunities.Simon Cant, FinTech Australia President said We have received fantastic support from both sides of government, particularly from the Treasurer and from Ed Husic. Both have worked tirelessly to implement something within the difficult framework of the Corporations Act, and to try arrive at a piece of policy that is balanced.We recognise theres a lot more work to be done to expand the framework for Private companies, but were pleased both sides of government have indicated their willingness to adopt this legislation quickly to kick-start funding opportunities for innovative Public companies across Australia. Equity Crowdfunding will open up early-stage capital markets, which will ultimately drive growth and create new employment opportunities for various parts of our economy. Its great to see this important legislative development that will give us learnings quickly as we develop the rest of the Private company framework with Government.FinTech Australia will continue to work closely with both sides of Government and Treasury in the new year to implement the most effective framework for private companies to access capital through Equity Crowdfunding.- END -Media ContactDanielle SzethoChief Executive OfficerFinTech AustraliaPh. 0414075423Email: danielle@fintechaustralia.org.au