Regulators In UK & Australia Agree To Support Fintech Sector

March 29, 2016
Regulators In UK & Australia Agree To Support Fintech Sector August 9, 2018 Clive Nelson https://plus.google.com/110107075468979879828/

FinTechAn agreement has been reached between the financial regulators of the UK and Australia that will result in support for fintech companies trying to enter each other’s market. According to the agreement, UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will both assist the other country’s innovative businesses that want to expand into their country. The regulators have also agreed to provide ongoing support to the businesses to help them in their dealings with the corresponding regulator.

Both regulators have set up Innovation Hubs which will assist these fintech businesses in handling the regulatory and authorization processes.

So far the Innovation Hub at FCA has helped over 200 businesses and facilitated 18 businesses to gain regulatory approvals while the ASIC has assisted 75 start-ups, helping 10 of them to get their licenses. The fintech industry in UK is estimated to have annual revenues of approximately $12.5 billion while in Australia the industry has revenues of nearly $1.3 billion.

Digital Leaders

According to Christopher Woolard, director of strategy and competition at the FCA many companies rely on the UK as a market to launch their international operations and said that this agreement would provide the support required by these companies to grow internationally.

Greg Medcraft the chairman of the ASIC stated that the ASIC was focused on fostering innovation that helped both consumers and investors. Both regulators have also agreed to exchange information on critical industry trends and their effect on regulation.

In a statement, Greg Medcraft said,

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. We believe this agreement with the FCA will help break down barriers to entry both here and in the UK

Fintech businesses seeking support would need to qualify for first by meeting the eligibility criteria put down by their countries’ regulator. Once the business qualifies and is referred to the other regulator, a dedicated contact person will be assigned to it, who will then assist the business in getting an understanding of the regulatory framework, process and procedures along with all other requirements relevant to the registration process.

As a part of the assistance program, the company will be provided among other things access to expert staff and information on applicable special processes. The contact person would be available to the company for a period of twelve months.

About the Author

Clive Nelson

Clive Nelson Author

Hi, my name is Clive Nelson and welcome to Traders Bible. Just to tell you bit about myself…I have been trading FX and binary options for the best part of 10 years now. After graduating with honours in economics, I began working for an investment bank in New York as an assistant trader before working my way up. After a few years, I went on to work as a broker in London, England and then eventually came back to the U.S to work in a hedge fund, where I manage $800 million of my clients’ investments. There have been times over the course of my career where I’ve had to take a hit, but I’ve accepted that losing is part of the game, it’s a learning curve. I’ve learnt from my mistakes and you don’t have to make the same errors I did. A lot of my education came from when I was a broker and this is why I’m here to tell you that Traders’ Bible offers you the foundations of how to become a great trader.


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