Clifford Chance

Australia and Singapore sign fintech cooperation agreement

19 July 2016

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have entered into a cooperation agreement to help Australian and Singaporean fintech businesses expand into each other's markets faster.  ASIC and MAS will provide advice and support to reduce regulatory uncertainty.

Fintech firms are disrupting traditional financial services and are aiming to be better, faster and cheaper than the traditional market leaders. Research from Accenture indicates that between 2013 and 2014 global investment in fintech tripled to USD12.2 billion. And a report by EY shows that the market was worth over GBP20 billion (USD27 billion) across seven global regions (including Australia and Singapore) in 2014.  Not surprisingly, governments are keen to position their economies to take advantage of the financial services digital revolution.

We discuss the recent initiatives of Australian and Singaporean regulators to spark innovation and encourage collaboration in fintech.

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