We hope everyone had a good EOFY and we are looking forward to seeing all your successes over the next year. Speaking of successes, we are looking forward to sharing the success of our members and the ecosystem in the next week – please stay tuned.

Today marks an important day in the progress to a digital economy with the launch of the Consumer Data Right, but the hard work has only just begun. We need to ensure the CDR is accessible and cheaper for fintechs to use than other alternatives on the market. A key part of ensuring this happens is the ACCC consultation in respect of Intermediaries. We realise there is a long way to go before we get a framework that will adequately deal with the range of models in the market. If you are a member of FA, we would love to have your involvement. We are also currently in the process of drafting the second draft of our response to the ePayments Review based on member feedback, as well as working with our Blockchain and Digital Currency policy working group in respect of deregulation, and the future of the blockchain roadmap.

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We hope that everyone has been well over the past couple of weeks. On the policy front, we are continuing to strongly advocate for the fintech ecosystem with respect to the budget to support you all on your recovery post-Covid-19. We have made our submission to the Inquiry into the Future Directions for the Consumer Data Right, and are currently drafting our submission to the ASIC ePayments Review (details below).

Industry Updates

Last week was particularly exciting, with the new Regulatory Sandbox legislation receiving royal assent. We also successfully lobbied for the removal of the directive that the AOFM must only distribute the SFSF 15 Billion Fund to companies that have 50M assets/loans under management. This change will allow more lenders to access the scheme.

New memberships and community initiatives

Before we launch into our community initiatives, we would like to welcome Scantek, Yodlee and Identitii as our newest members!

Since our last newsletter we have run two weeks of Five Fintechs on Fridays (with incredible enthusiasm from the community). These entries have featured BTC Markets, Data Republic, Assembly Payments, Tanggram, Ingenico, TradeLedger, OpenSparkz, Radium Capital, Pinch and Relay Pay. Stay tuned for this Friday’s latest FFoF.

In last week’s Member Spotlight we spoke with Caroline Bowler, CEO of BTC Markets about the opportunities that the current market presents for cryptocurrency adoption and, in particular, Central Bank Digital Currencies. This week we spoke with InDebted’s Lachlan Heussler about what the company is doing in the debt collection space, their unique use of technology, and their future plans.

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We hope that everyone is staying safe at this time. We are continuing to strongly advocate for you all in respect of recent Covid-19 measures, including the expansion of JobKeeper, its application to SME lenders, and AOFM funding to non-bank lenders. We are also currently drafting submissions to the Inquiry into the Future Directions for the Consumer Data Right, and the ASIC ePayments Review (details below). We have also launched a talent marketplace on Linkedin in partnership with Tier One People.

The Finnies and Intersekt

We wanted to share a quick update with you with regard to the Intersekt Fintech Festival and The Finnie Awards. In such uncertain times, we are working hard to ensure Intersekt Fintech Festival 2020 will proceed as planned from the 26 to 27 October 2020 and The Finnie awards which have been rescheduled for November 27, 2020. With networking an integral part of coming together for these events, our first preference is to run live events as normal.

New partnership with Vocus

We have also partnered with Vocus, a leading Tier 1 telco and network solutions provider, connecting people, businesses, and governments across Australia and the world. They offer customised solutions to some of Australia’s largest and most promising financial services organizations, and are looking forward to enabling the fintech industry to innovate and grow further. (more…)