The Australian government announces its interest in easing of rules for investors and startups in the FinTech space, the latter of whom should gain flexibility within a regulatory framework. Moreover, an advisory group dedicated to FinTech issues has been formed, chaired by Westpac Bank director Craig Dunn.
In addition, the government has apparently been working with ASIC on the development of a ‘regulatory sandbox’ for Australian FinTech. Within such ‘regulatory sandbox’ in Australia, the government wants to enable companies to manage regulatory risks during testing stages, lower their costs and time to market products. At the same time, any ‘sandbox’ will need to provide for important consumer outcomes such as fit and proper checks, dispute resolution and consumer redress arrangements.
Australia’s position as a banking and financial sector for the Far East region has been helpful for domestic FinTech industry and technologies like Blockchain. In the Forex industry, Australia is used as a base by many leading international online brokers for serving and attracting clients from China and other large regional countries.
Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison outlined details of The Turnbull Government’s statement on Australia’s FinTech future, recognizing that FinTech is transforming Australia’s financial system and economy.
Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison informed about the details of the Australia Government’s actions to boost the FinTech industry and new technologies. They will comprise of:
- Ensuring access to concessional tax treatment for venture capital investments in start-up FinTech firms,
2. Taking action to address the double taxation of digital currencies which exists today in Australia,
3. Allow all companies regardless of assets and turnover to be eligible for Equity Crowdfunding;
4. Review Australian Market Licence (AML) requirements for crowdfunding intermediaries.
The statements came in a wide-ranging policy statement on FinTech released by the Australian government. The statement offered more details on how the government is intending to regulate companies working on new financial technologies as well as digital currencies and blockchain applications in particular.
“Removing the ‘double taxation’ treatment for GST on digital currencies and applying adequate anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules may facilitate further developments or use in the future,” the government said.
Elsewhere in the policy release, the government informed that it continues to reconsider if it should apply financial surveillance rules to digital currency exchange services in the country.
The Australian Attorney-General’s Department, according to the release, is in the process of evaluating whether existing anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations should be amended to cover domestic exchanges. The move is framed as an application of those regulations to all FinTech startups in Australia.
“The current review of Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime is considering a range of measures to support the development of the FinTech industry,” the government announced. “The review is considering whether AML/CTF regulation should be extended to include convertible digital currency exchanges.”
The official statement on FinTech can be found here.
