co-operation agreement – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

Increasing FinTech regulatory ties between Australia and the UK

Mar 27 2018

Australia and the UK have strengthened their joint support of the FinTech industry by entering into two new arrangements which build on the original FinTech cooperation agreement entered into by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in March 2016.

The Australian and UK Governments have entered into the UK-Australia FinTech Bridge which establishes a framework for individual arrangements involving governments, regulators, trade and investment, and business. A number of understandings were agreed to including:

investigating options for developing complementarity between the UK and Australian open banking regimes;
continuing to develop a set of international standards for blockchain applications; and
exploring opportunities to enable quicker processing of licences for firms already licensed in the other jurisdiction.

ASIC extends FinTech cooperation to Asian counterparts

Jun 30 2017

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

On 13 June 2017, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) entered into a FinTech co-operation agreement with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Soon after, on 23 and 27 June 2017, ASIC also entered into similar arrangements with the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) and the Malaysia Securities Commission (MSC). These arrangements provides a framework for ASIC to work more closely with these regulators.

As a result of these agreements, ASIC, SFC, JFSA and MSC can refer FinTech businesses to each other for advice and support via ASIC’s Innovation Hub, SFC’s FinTech Contact Point, JFSA’s FinTech Support Desk and MSC’s alliance of FINtech community (aFINity). This means Australian FinTech businesses wishing to operate in Hong Kong, Japan or Malaysia will now have a simple pathway for engaging with those countries’ regulators, and vice versa. This can provide valuable assistance for FinTech businesses operating in one jurisdiction which want to better understand the rules in the other.

Regulators in the UK and Hong Kong sign co-operation agreement

May 30 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

On 12 May the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) entered into a co-operation agreement with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong to foster collaboration in support of FinTech innovation. Under the agreement, the FCA and SFC will co-operate on information sharing and referrals of innovative firms seeking to enter one another’s markets.

The FCA signed a similar agreement with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in December 2016 (see previous post). This new announcement means that the FCA now has agreements with a number of key regulators in Hong Kong. The agreement follows the creation of the FCA’s Innovation Hub in 2014 and the SFC’s FinTech Contact Point in 2016.

Regulators in the UK and Japan enter into Co-operation Framework

Mar 20 2017

By Jonathan Lawrence

The Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA) and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have entered into a Co-operation Framework to support innovative FinTech companies in their respective markets. For the full text of the agreement by way of an exchange of letters, see Letter from the JFSA to the FCA and Letter from the FCA to the JFSA.

This Co-operation Framework will provide a regulatory referral system for innovative financial businesses that have been offered support by the JFSA or the FCA through their respective FinTech innovation functions, or would qualify for such support (an Innovator Business). The FCA launched Project Innovate in October 2014 which is led by the FCA’s Innovation Hub. The JFSA established its FinTech Support Desk in December 2015 as a one-stop contact point for FinTech businesses.

Australian and Kenyan financial regulators sign co-operation agreement

Nov 16 2016

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA) have signed a co-operation agreement to share information about innovation in their markets including:

emerging market trends and developments; and
regulatory issues relating to innovation in financial services.

Kenya was an early adopter of FinTech with the launch of mobile phone based payments system M-Pesa back in 2007. It has since become one of the leading FinTech countries in Africa particularly in payments and credit innovations.

Regulators in Australia and Ontario sign co-operation agreement

Nov 07 2016

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) have signed a co-operation agreement to promote FinTech innovation. The agreement will make expansion into the Australian and Ontarian markets easier for growing FinTech businesses.

A referral mechanism has been created under the new agreement which allows ASIC to refer Australian FinTech businesses wanting to enter the Ontarian market to OSC and vice versa. Referred businesses will receive support to understand the market’s regulatory framework and how it applies to them from dedicated staff at the relevant regulator. To qualify for support FinTech businesses will need to meet the eligibility criteria of their home regulator including being a new or early stage FinTech business which has an innovation or product which will likely provide benefits to investors and consumers.

Both ASIC and OSC have established internal teams to assist FinTech businesses with their regulatory obligations and encourage development of the FinTech industry. ASIC’s Innovation Hub was established in April 2015 and OSC recently established LaunchPad in October 2016.

ASIC and OCS have also committed to share information about emerging market trends and potential impacts on regulation.

ASIC has entered into similar co-operation agreements with the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Monetary Authority of Singapore amongst others this year.

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