The Fintech Future - Staying Ahead Or Running to Catch up?

Media Release
The Fintech Future - Staying Ahead Or Running to Catch up?
4 October 2016
New Zealand pulled ahead of the pack in FinTech through the equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer provisions in the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. But this is a fast-moving area and we are now in danger of being left behind.

Australia is initiating a range of measures to promote itself as a financial technology or ‘FinTech’ hub, as are Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom. If we lose pace now, it will be very difficult to catch up as the pace of technological change and market growth is huge.

For these reasons, Chapman Tripp is advocating that the government and the financial services industry work together to plot a way forward. We have today released a commentary inviting the government to consider:
• establishing a FinTech Advisory Group of financial services technology leaders, officials, and other market professionals to advise the government on Fiuntech issues
• establishing an Innovation Hub within the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to engage on a targeted basis with innovative FinTech start-ups and financial services firms
• consulting on establishing a “regulatory sandbox” to remove barriers to entry, and
• engaging further with industry and overseas regulators on offers of innovative products and services in consumer credit, payments and remittance, digital-advice, Blockchain and lending services and on how best to facilitate FinTech innovation in New Zealand, both for start-ups and larger existing financial service providers.

These ideas could be considered in the context of the review the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is currently conducting into the FMA’s funding model.

For further information, see Fintech regulation in Australia – lessons for New Zealand and The Reserve Bank’s view on digital disruption in the banking sector on our webpage at www.chapmantripp.com

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