crowd-sourced equity funding – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

Australian Securities and Investments Commission announces the commencement date for its crowd-sourced funding regime

Sep 13 2017

By Jim Bulling, Daniel Knight and Felix Charlesworth

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced that will begin accepting applications under its new crowd sourced funding (CSF) regime from 29 September 2017 onwards. From this date, applications can be submitted via the existing ASIC ‘eLicensing’ portal.

In preparation for the commencement of the CSF regime, ASIC has released an information sheet outlining:

the expected application process and timeframe; and
its approach of assessing applicants.

During the period between 29 September 2017 and 27 October 2017, ASIC will assess applications lodged on similar dates in ‘batches.’ Successful applications from each batch will progress broadly at the same time. Incomplete or inadequate applications lodged during this period may be refused or placed in later application batches. Applications which are lodged from 27 October 2017 onwards will be considered individually as soon as possible.

A guide to doing FinTech business in the U.S. and Germany

Oct 28 2016

“Getting the Deal Through” is a publication that provides international expert analysis in key areas of law, practice and regulation for corporate counsel, cross-border legal practitioners, and company directors and officers.

The inaugural edition of Fintech serves as a resource to help fintech entrepreneurs and their advisers and investors around the world navigate the often complex key legal and regulatory issues on which we are most often asked to advise. Two of the chapters were authored by K&L Gates lawyers.

The Germany chapter is authored by Dr. Hilger von Livonius, Dr. Friederike Gräfin von Brühl and Dr. Thomas Nietsch.

The United States chapter is authored by Judith Rinearson, Robert Zinn, Anthony Nolan, C. Todd Gibson and Andrew Reibman.

To read this publication, click here.

Australian Government gets more FinTech friendly

Mar 23 2016

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

The Australian Government has released its responses to the industry’s priorities for fintech development which it has called “Backing Australian FinTech”. As well as affirming existing commitments, such as introducing a crowd sourced equity funding (CSEF) framework and an incubator support programme, the paper includes a number of initiatives that the Government proposes to undertake. New developments include:

introduction of an entrepreneur visa in November 2016 for foreign entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and financial backing from a third party;
possibly increasing the asset and turnover eligibility threshold for CSEF to A$25 million and reducing cooling off periods for investors to 48 hours;
consultation on a potential framework for crowd sourced debt funding;
increasing the maximum fund size of Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnerships (ESVCLPs) to A$200 million and providing a 10% tax offset on capital invested;
introduction of a mechanism to allow Innovation Australia to issue binding advice in relation to the definition of ineligible activities for ESVCLPs;
Productivity Commission inquiry into options for improving access to comprehensive credit reporting (CCR) data;
a regulatory guide for robo-advice providers;
possibly allowing licensed insurance brokers to sell insurance policies from unauthorised foreign insurers where they offer consumers a better price and appropriate consumer protection;
possibly applying anti-money laundering laws to digital currencies;
a commitment to address the ‘double taxation’ of using digital currency to purchase goods already subject to the Goods and Services Tax (GST);
establishment of a new Cyber Security Growth Centre; and
a ‘regulatory sandbox’ in Australia to allow FinTech start-ups to test their products and business models.

Backing Australian FinTech indicates that 2016 will be a busy year for fintech regulation in Australia.

Read Backing Australian FinTech here.

U.S. and Australian Rules on Crowdfunding

Dec 14 2015

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

The past few months have seen considerable movement on the regulation of crowd-sourced equity funding on both sides of the Pacific. In the U.S., the SEC has adopted rules which allow companies to crowdfund through a registered portal while in Australia, the Australian Government has introduced a bill into Parliament which significantly enhances the viability and attractiveness of crowdfunding.

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