Expanded fintech regulatory sandbox must be geared towards innovators, says industry body
FinTech Australia have flagged their support for the Federal Government’s proposed legislative changes to the fintech regulatory sandbox but called for further improvements to make the sandbox more robust and fintech-friendly.
Earlier this month, FinTech Australia’s chair Stuart Stoyan gave evidence to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, which is inquiring into the provisions of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 2) Bill 2018.
As originally introduced by ASIC in December 2016, Australia’s fintech sandbox included a class waiver to allow eligible fintech businesses the near-automatic right to test a limited number of services for up to 12 months without an Australian financial services or credit licence.
The bill takes a new approach, by allowing the Australian Treasurer to make regulations to deliver an expanded sandbox environment. This differs from the current approach, where ASIC delivers the sandbox through its own processes.
In his opening statement handed to the Senators, Stoyan noted that the 2017 EY Fintech Census identified that 78% of fintechs believe an expanded and more flexible regulatory sandbox environment is required. He also noted that the response to the current sandbox had been disappointing in that only five fintechs had used it.
To read more, please click on the link below…
