UK, Australian regulators team up to support fintech sector

Fintech companies in the UK and Australia will soon have more regulatory support, with regulators in the two countries signing a historic agreement on Wednesday.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission will, under the agreement, refer innovative businesses seeking to enter the other’s market to one another.

They will also provide support to innovators before, during and after authorisation, in a bid to reduce regulatory uncertainty and time to market.

“Innovation in financial services isn’t limited by national borders and so it’s important that we support overseas businesses that have new ideas that could benefit British consumers,” said FCA director of strategy and competition Christopher Woolard.

“We also know that many British firms wish to use the UK as a springboard to launch their businesses or products internationally, making them potentially more sustainable challengers,” he added.

ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft said the regulator was committed to encouraging innovation that has the potential to benefit financial consumers and investors.

“Since ASIC launched its Innovation Hub last year we have seen a surge in requests by fintech startups seeking assistance about how to navigate the regulatory requirements. In particular we have dealt with robo or digital advice, crowd sourced equity funding, payments, marketplace lending and blockchain business models.

“It is very exciting to observe and clearly some business ideas will want to scale up internationally. We believe this agreement with the FCA will help break down barriers to entry both here and in the UK,” he explained.

The agreement followed the launch of Innovation Hubs by each regulator over the last two years, which aim to help businesses with innovative ideas navigate financial regulation and support them through authorisation.

More than 200 businesses received the support of the FCA’s hub so far, and ASIC had assisted 75 start-ups.