Fintech Consulting & Licensing Support in Australia

Enterslice FinTech licensing services offer you the golden opportunity to be part of the USD 3.2 billion valued Australian FinTech market and become one of the 800+ FinTech companies in Australia. We know fintech has its own set of unique needs & and risk profiles; on top of it, becoming ASIC licensed comes with its own set of challenges, but our team of experts with 15+ years of experience in the fintech domain knows how to keep up with the compliance system and legal intricacies behind obtaining a fintech license in Australia. With the support of Enterslice, become part of the world's most exciting, dynamic and high-paced Australian fintech industry.

What is a fintech licensing?

In recent times, the traditional market players have been challenged by the industries arising out of the combination of finance with technology, popularly known as fintech. Today, any technologically enabled financial innovation that might produce new business models, applications, processes, or products that have the capability of leaving an effect on the financial market is known as a fintech business model. Due to stringent consumer protection rules, these fintech business models can't be part of the public domain without obtaining authorization from the regulatory authorities, and this authorization generally is in the form of licensing, which gives the right businesses to have innovative fintech models to introduce in the public domain. Each nation has separate policies when it comes to fintech licensing, and an entity willing to obtain the same needs to register them accordingly as per the local laws.

With Enterslice, Embrace Your Journey as a Fintech Licensed Company By

Start With Purpose And Mindset

Let us root the journey of your fintech company with support and determination; let us help you create purpose for your business with a sustainable business model.

Co-Create The New Culture

Let us create a healthy space within your company to let innovation breathe and give Enterslice a chance to create a business as well as a humane-friendly business space.

Think outside the Box

Enterslice, with your innovative approach, could bring diversity to your business by aiding experiments and intrapreneurship culture within your organization.

Enterslice Fintech Licensing Services Making Your Business

Desirable

Making your business meet the expectations of the customers and addressing their unmet needs along with creating a value proposition for your customer base.

Feasible

It will be our responsibility to make your company technologically enabled by making your existing operating model sound enough to fill the gaps in existing technology.

Viable

We will make your business customer-centric with a business model customized as per your needs, which can aid an increase in revenue. With Enterslice, make your business efficient and improved.

Risk Bearer

Fintech business circles around various risk-involving factors due to the interference of technology, external factors such as legal and compliance related, and decreasing the risk aversion of the companies, with the help of Enterslice, create a risk accessing and mitigating business model.

Overview of the Australian Fintech Market

The Australian fintech market has everything from innovation to attractive market size to population, which does effective and efficient use of technology. But like every industry, the fintech industry in Australia has its challenges caused by the traditional financial service providers, and maintaining a strong technical infrastructure along with complying with the cybersecurity and consumer protection measures is a problem without the assistance of an expert.

Our experts will curate a comprehensive and strategic compliance management system for your fintech in Australia, which could aid the growth and development of your business in a foreign land.

Innovative fintech culture

The Australian fintech market consists of a wide range of innovative startups and established businesses that are using technology to generate such products and processes that can maximize their profit without the involvement of many resources. The fintech market of Australia includes activities and sectors such as digital payments, mobile banking, peer-to-peer lending, robo-advisory, blockchain and cryptocurrency, insurtech, regtech, etc.

Attractive market size

According to the market research conducted by the SPER about the Australian fintech market size, the prediction of the data arising out of this research was that the Australian fintech market will reach the mark of USD 33.99 billion by the year 2033 with a CAGR of 28.5%.

Technology friendly environment

The growing use of digital banking and financial services are the main reasons that fueled the Australian fintech model, and to promote the establishment of cross-border fintech entities, the regulatory authorities tried making licensing requirements lenient, generated frameworks for open banking, and established regulatory sandboxes to aid innovation.

Authorized Fintech Activities in Australia

Crowdfunding

Any fintech industry that deals in providing crowdfunding services must hold a license to provide such service authorized by the Australian Financial Services (AFS) license.

AFS has issued two regulatory guidelines, i.e. regulatory Guide 261, crowd-sourced funding, which is a guide for public companies that assists companies seeking to raise funds and regulatory Guide 262, crows-sourced funding, which is a guide for intermediaries that are seeking guidance to provide crowdfunding services.

Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Currently, cryptocurrency exchanges are unregulated in Australia, but the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime includes it within its ambit within the definition of digital currency exchanges, and it is a mandate for such exchanges to comply with the KYC requirements.

Robo-Advice

Currently, the guidance released by ASIC is about advice to retail investors providing digital finance product advice and is designed for traditional financial advice models, which consist of simple calculators, and their functioning is based on narrow parameters, but soon, the regulatory framework will be introduced for digital advice tools such as robo-advisors.

Licensing Services for Robust Growth and development

In a world full of challenges, be it an individual, startup, or an established organization, all need a systematic setup that could aid their growth, especially when it is aligned to a foreign territory; an expert like Enterslice is required by a fintech company pacing towards the fintech market of Australia, Our fintech experts offer easy and hassle-free Paper works guidance with checklists along with time-to-time updated formats.

Establishing a cross-border fintech industry involves multiple compliances, which, when not followed in a proper pattern, cause delays in the licensing process. Our legal team will help you in systematic compliance formulation along with time-to-time compliance support as per the changes in the regulation.

We customize FinTech strategies as per your company's business model. To achieve the same, we assign a dedicated fintech expert who will provide expert guidance and support and help you make the right decisions for your company.

Global Crypto Compliance 2024: Regulations in Every Country

Global Crypto Compliance 2024 provides a comprehensive overview of cryptocurrency regulations across the globe.

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Regulatory Setup for the Fintech Industry in Australia

The regulatory setup of the fintech industry in Australia has observed a wave of dynamic changes, and currently, the fintech eco-system of Australia includes certain key regulators that are balancing innovation along with consumer protection.

ASIC and its role

The initiation of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is a platform that provides licenses to Australian financial services and Australian credit licenses, renews existing licenses, and establishes a regulatory sandbox as an innovation hub that gives 24 months of license exemption to the registered entities. The legal technicalities associated with the crypto assets, their exchanges and their impact on the fintech sector are also managed by the ASIC.

Establishment of ASIC

ASIC was established under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001, which primarily administers the Corporations Act 2001, which is most relevant to the fintech. It includes within its ambit the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, Insurance Contracts Act 1984, Life Insurance Act 1995, Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993, Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993, Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997 and Business Names Registration Act 2011.

Role of APRA

APRA is a regulator that acts for overseas banks, credit unions, building societies, general and life insurance companies, reinsurance companies, friendly societies, and members of the superannuation industry. It includes legislation such as the Banking Act of 1959, the Insurance Act of 1973, the Life Insurance Act of 1995, and the superannuation industry (supervision) Act of 1993.

Role of ALRC

With the responsibility of making the financial service regulatory system of Australia more adaptive and efficient, the regulatory body named the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) came into existence, which gave reports on the key areas, including the financial services legislation, regulatory design, and hierarchy of laws.

The wave of change

The most recent change to the licensing regime of Australian financial services is the introduction of the Digital Assets (market Regulation) Bill 2023, also known as the Digital Assets Bill, which regulates the digital assets and the licensing requirements for digital exchanges, custody service providers for digital assets and the issuers of stablecoins.

Role of Central Bank Australia

The central bank of Australia is the Reserve Bank of Australia, the responsibility of which is to formulate policies responsible for monetary, financial, and payment systems or any other financial matters. RBA regulates the legislation, i.e. the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 and the Payments Systems and Netting Act 1998(cth).

Other Australian fintech authorities

Other authorities, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Transaction Reports Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) are certain proactive authorities that, in recent years, have become much more cautious on the licensing, conduct, and disclosures done by the financial service providers along with the enforcement measures associated with them. Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) is a national regulatory authority for the promotion of competition and fair trade in markets to protect and benefit consumers, businesses, and the whole of the community in general.

Tax Regulator

For matters related to taxation, there is the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), which is the principal revenue collection agency of the Australian government and the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is a government agency that functions independently to assure freedom of information, information policy of the government and other primary privacy related functions. Their main responsibility is to investigate and review the decisions made by the financial companies along with handling their complaints or the complaints done against them with proper guidance and advice related to the issue at hand.

Fintech innovation hub

To assist fintech startups, ASIC has introduced the innovation hub to aid in the development of innovative financial products. The entities that are part of this innovation hub informally receive guidance from ASIC from time to time about the licensing process and the regulatory issues that need to be sorted in their business. This innovation hub-focused sandbox was superseded by the enhanced regulatory sandbox in 2020, which permitted the locally registered unlicensed foreign companies to have access to the enhanced regulatory sandbox where they can test their financial services as well as credit activities without prior procurement of AFS license or Australian credit license.

Types of Fintech Licenses in Australia

Mainly, there are two types of licenses, AFS license and Credit license, within which a fintech company can register itself in Australia. The Australian Financial Service authorities suggest any company establishing their business in Australia take the aid of a third-party expert who has expertise in the Australian financial services-related regulations and who can walk a new fintech to the Australian marketplace. Let us understand in detail the types of these licenses, and Enterslice will assist you in registering and obtaining the one best suitable for your fintech.

AFS Licensees

If you are an entity with a financial service business, then you must obtain an Australian financial services license (AFS). To hold this license, you must have a business providing advice to clients about financial products, you specialize in dealing with financial products, your presence in the market is due to your financial products, and you operate in any registered scheme, your business is providing depository or custodial services, traditional trustee company services, crowdfunding services, superannuation trustee service, claim handling and settling service, operate the business and conduct the affairs of a corporate collective investment vehicle(CCIV).

Your business needs an AFS license if your financial products include shares, bonds, superannuation, interests in managed investment schemes, life insurance, general insurance, derivatives, and margin lending facilities.