FinTech Voice, March 14, 2024

Written By Katrina Angelika

Hi Community,

It's never a dull moment here at FinTech Australia. We've had huge success with our new initiatives this year, finishing off with the Fintech for Net Zero event yesterday. Thank you to our members, partners, sponsors and community for supporting us and participating in these events. Pictures can be found here. More to come but if you have any ideas and suggestions as well, please reach out.

  1. For those worried about not completing their application on time for the Finnies, we got your back, we have extended the closing date until Tuesday, 19 March 2024 at 10 PM. It's your chance to get the recognition you deserve from Australia's most prestigious awards submit your entries soon.

  2. We are still accepting proposals for the Banking Reverse Pitch until Wednesday, 20 March 2024. To view the event recording, problem statement slides, ask any further questions, and submit solutions, visit the Banking Reverse Pitch page.

  3. Are you planning to attend any of the global fintech events this year? Please let us know so we can help with introductions, discounted tickets and a planned mission program to some of these events.

Kind regards,

Rehan D’Almeida,

General Manager,

FinTech Australia

Policy Update

Buy Now Pay Later regulatory reforms

Yesterday, the Government released exposure draft legislation to implement Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) reforms. This follows previous consultation in late 2022 and should be the final stage of consultation before legislation is introduced to Parliament 

The draft legislation amends the Credit Act and the Credit Regulations to bring BNPL into the existing regulatory framework for other credit products. As proposed in previous consultations, the new obligations being consulted on (including Responsible Lending Obligations) are flexible and scalable to ensure they are proportionate to the risk of harm from these products.

FinTech Australia will make a submission. We will circulate further information to our Lending Policy Working Group and invite any interested parties to contact our policy team about contributing to our submission.  The closing date for initial submissions is 9 April 2024.

Government launches regulatory initiatives 'grid'

The Government is introducing a new financial sector regulatory initiatives grid to enhance coordination and transparency in financial services regulation and improve communication about future regulatory changes. 

The grid will follow a 24-month forward program which will impact financial sectors such as banking, credit, insurance, superannuation, investment, payments, and capital market entities. The scheme will be managed by Treasury, with input from agencies like ASIC, APRA, ACCC, RBA, and the ATO.

Changes to AFCA's Rules & Operational Guidelines

Following consultation last May, AFCA has now finalised changes to its Rules and Operational Guidelines which will come into effect on 1 July 2024.

AFCA has helpfully released a detailed Response Report outlining the final changes and responses to feedback received. FinTech Australia prepared a submission back in May 2023, and we are please to see that AFCAs summary of changes shows several of our recommendations to provide additional explanation were adopted. 

A detailed piece on the response will be published on our Policy Updates page.

We recently made submissions on:

  1. Inquiry into Payments Systems (Regulation) Act amendments

  2. Payments System Modernisation (Regulation of Payment Service Providers) consultation paper

  3. 2024–25 Pre-Budget submission

  4. Regulating Digital Asset Platforms - Proposals Paper

  5. Reforms to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 – Exposure draft legislation consultation

  6. Screen Scraping - Policy and Regulatory Implications 

  7. CDR rules - Expansion to the non-bank lending sector

  8. CDR Consent Review and operational enhancements design papers

See our recent submissions on our website.

FinTech Australia regularly makes submissions to consultations across a wide range of policy and regulatory issues.

Communications about how to get involved in these processes are distributed to our Policy Working Group membership.

Upcoming Events

Get excited for events and opportunities from FinTech Australia and the community!

  • The 8th annual Finnie Awards Gala Night will be held on the 6th of June in Sydney this year! Ticket sales will be announced soon. We are accepting award applications until Tuesday, 19 March 2024, at 10 PM. Submit your entries here.

  • There's 1 week left to submit proposals for the Banking Reverse Pitch. To view the event recording, problem statement slides, ask any further questions, and submit solutions, visit the Banking Reverse Pitch page.

  • CDR Month is back this year as CDR 2024! Save the date for the cornerstone event of this initiative, CDR Summit, on the 3rd of July in Sydney.

Save these dates! For more events and opportunities from the community, click here.

Community Updates

Don’t miss all the news and insights from our members and corporate partners from our newsroom.

For more news, click here.

New Members

Let's welcome FinTech Australia's new members! 🎉

FinTech Australia's Podcast

Listen to the challenges, opportunities, and stories from our community faces across the fintech industry in Australia!

In our latest In Discussion podcast episode, we had the opportunity to chat with Tim Poskitt, Fintech Managing Director - APAC at Startupbootcamp FinTech.

In this special episode approaching Fintech for Net Zero, we dived into how SBC is supporting early-stage startups including fintechs focusing on sustainability. Tim also talked about the different ways in which fintechs can "be good" to the environment.

Katrina Angelika
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