More than 100 fintech leaders have signed a letter to both the Labor government and Coalition opposition ahead of the May 3 election calling on them to live up to promises made in previous campaigns for reform in financial services, saying the sector’s growth is being hampered by “policy inertia”.
Issues such as crypto and digital asset regulation and the Consumer Data Right (CDR) have stalled under three years of Labor amid a series of reviews, while the chief driver of change, assistant treasurer Stephen Jones, retires from politics next week.
Nearly two-thirds of fintechs say regulatory and compliance barriers are slowing their growth, with around 1-in-10 say it’s an existential threat, and also believe regulatory compliance is a bigger challenge that funding.
The exasperated signatories, coalescing around Fintech Australia CEO Rehan D’Almeida, who penned the letter to the major parties, span ASX-listed companies to unicorn private scaleups as well as venture capital investors. They include Employment Hero, Prospa, REA-backed Athena Home Loans, Swyftx, Hnry, and Moonova.
“We feel compelled to put these concerns in a letter, as there’s a direct alignment between the fundamental issues of this election and the solutions the fintech industry can deliver through its growth,” D’Almeida wrote.
“These are issues we, however, as an industry cannot address without the government’s immediate and clear support.”
Among the frustrations outlined in the letter, the industry group boss said Australia can’t afford further delays to reforms that will address cost of living pressures.
“Numerous fintech initiatives—such as the digital economy frameworks, digital asset regulation and payments reform, privacy safeguards and responsible lending reforms —were introduced by both sides of government as key means to ease cost pressures faced by consumers and businesses and drive new efficiencies,” D’Almeida wrote.
“Yet progress on finalising these policy settings has stalled, with political inertia now the norm. Not only have these policies faced delays, but they’ve encountered further hurdles in the form of inquiries into work already completed. These unnecessary delays have become existential threats for many fintech businesses.”
The Coalition began to roll out CDR as open banking in 2020, but the promise it offered fintech innovation has been slower and lower than initial hopes.
Labor’s assistant treasurer announced a “reboot” of the CDR in August last year.
D’almeida is blunt that its introduction continues to flatline.
“Six years later, that vision remains largely unrealised, with no firm deadlines or commitments to fully implement it,” he wrote.
CDR has the potential to address a key election issue – the cost of energy, enabling people to find cheaper power, as well as other financial costs.
His plea to both parties hoping to form government in next month is “your support in empowering Australia’s fintech sector to address the country’s pressing productivity and cost of living pressure”.
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