Policy Update - January #2

FinTech at Parliament House

Next Wednesday we will host members and partners for our inaugural FinTech at Parliament House event in Canberra.

The evening serves as the launch for the ‘Parliamentary Friends of FinTech’ group, a non-partisan forum for parliamentarians co-chaired by Dr Daniel Mulino MP and Senator Andrew Bragg. 

Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with parliamentarians and staff to showcase fintech's positive impact on the Australian economy and discuss current challenges facing the sector.

Payments licensing roundtable with Treasury

On Monday we held a roundtable Q&A session with Treasury's payments policy team to discuss the ongoing payments licensing framework consultation.

Members had the opportunity to put questions to the Treasury team about the proposed reforms. We are currently finalising our FinTech Australia submission which has been informed by a series of group discussions with members. If you have any late feedback to incorporate, please reach out.

Interim response to AI review

The Government has released an interim response to last year's consultation on safe and responsible AI in Australia.

The response recognises that many applications of AI do not present risks that require a regulatory response but that mandatory safety guardrails may be required for some high-risk settings.

In the immediate term, the Government will prioritise:

• working with industry to develop a voluntary AI Safety Standard, implementing risk-based guardrails for industry;

• working with industry to develop options for voluntary labelling and watermarking of AI-generated materials; and

• establishing an expert advisory body to support the development of options for further AI guardrails.