Who would trust this nonsense... ASIC trying to protect consumers after 18 years of stuff-ups and not one consumer protected. Its laughable!
ASIC and UK regulator sign fintech deal
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Thursday, 24 March 2016 12:31pm By Alex Burke | In Regulatory |
http://www.financialstandard.com.au/news/view/81269952?q=Australian%20Financial%20Services
ASIC and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have agreed to support innovative businesses or fintechs entering each other's respective markets. The goal is to reduce regulatory uncertainty for new Australian businesses entering the UK market, and vice versa. Both the FCA and ASIC have said they will provide support for these businesses "before, during and after authorisation to help reduce uncertainty and time to market."
In order for businesses to benefit from the new agreement, they will need to conform to the criteria of their home market's Innovation Hub. They will then need to be referred by their home regulator, which will put them in touch with a "dedicated team or contact person who will help them to understand the regulatory framework in the market they wish to join, and how it applies to them."
Explaining the decision, ASIC chair Greg Medcraft said, the regulator is 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," Medcraft said. "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."
FCA director of strategy and competition Christopher Woolard added, "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." "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 said. "That is why this agreement - the first of many, we hope - is important. With ASIC, we will reduce the barriers for authorised firms looking to grow to scale overseas and to assist non-UK innovators interested in entering the market we oversee."
Do the shonks and banks really need less regulation?
By Janine Perrett
As if our banks need less regulation. As if our regulator needs even more dubious entrepreneurs to ignore. As if any sensible government would propose a policy that could even have the slightest chance of that outcome. But that is my fear in a worst case scenario for the new fin tech regulation system the Government is announcing next week. Oh it is a much heralded outcome of the big Innovation Statement of last year. Sooo last year - released early on and with great hopes before everything went pear-shaped for the new PM.
Anyway Treasurer Scott Morrison yesterday warned Australia's top regulators to get ready for a new system to regulate fintech start-up so budding entrepreneurs would not have to waste too much time on pesky financial regulations. According to reports, start-ups will be able to test systems and products with real users; their numbers and transaction sizes would be limited. Participants would provide undertakings to ASIC and would have to comply with various rules on marketing, privacy, anti-money laundering compliance, disclosure, and management of conflicts of interest, but would not have to gain relevant ASIC licences until the company grew to a particular size, according to the model for the sandbox proposed by the industry.
Already I'm worried when it says "proposed by the industry". Sounds great in theory as we move to that "agile" and "innovative" economy so beloved of Mr Turnbull. Great in theory but we might need to be a little careful on detail given the potential for abuse. I mean it's not like we don't have a history of shonks and spivs in the financial sector.
Has anyone been watching the repeated allegations against Combank lately? Has anyone watched the various Senate admonishments of the sector and calls for a clean-up? Has anyone missed the growing calls for a Royal Commission into the sector, beginning at the apparently most heavily regulated top-end? Sure this proposal applies to the smaller companies and once they grow bigger they would be subject to the same laws as the big guys. But given those laws don't seem to be working for the big guys do we really want them to start off without a framework of regulation.
Ignorance of or disregard for the rules would then become part of the culture. And while some think that culture needs to be changed that way, I'm not so sure. If you think I'm being overly pessimistic or alarmist, look at this line in the stories yesterday. It is understood the big banks are planning to argue that they, too, be given access to the sandbox to reflect they also are engaged in product innovation. Not only does that see to defeat the whole point of the concept, but I don't think we want the banks finding any new ways to avoid regulation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdCfFKS-NTM