Sophisticated, deep and liquid capital markets make Australia one of the major centres of financial markets activity in Asia. The strength of our financial services sector is underpinned by a mandated retirement savings scheme, a highly skilled and multilingual workforce and advanced business infrastructure.
All this makes us a great place for fintechs to do business – both startups and established players. We offer a fintech-friendly regulatory regime, an early adopter, digitally-savvy population, and a depth of fintech talent.
By bringing your fintech business to Australia, you’ll be joining a mature and innovative ecosystem with strong links to all major fintech markets around the world. We’re doing great things in sub-sectors like neobanking, payment systems, wealthtech and regtech.
Embracing a fintech future
Australia has been an early adopter of financial services innovation and technology. We’re backing ambitious fintech startups with government support to export financial services. We’re also supporting two blockchain pilots to reduce business compliance costs. Fintech startups are entitled to tax offsets, and early-stage startups can claim a rebate of 62 cents for every tax dollar they spend on R&D.
Open for business and growing fast
Built on the strong foundations of our A$10 trillion financial services industry, our fintech sector is leading the world, with 700+ operations – seven of which are among the 100 most innovative worldwide.
Our fintech ecosystem includes incubators and accelerators, major banks, industry associations, venture capital firms and government.
According to the FinTech Australia EY Census, 88% of Australian fintechs three years or older are post-revenue, and 14% have raised more than A$100 million in capital.
Australia as a testing ground
Australians are enthusiastic adopters of new technology which makes us a great place to trial new tech. We were one of the first testing grounds for contactless payments, for example.
We’re popular as a testbed for Asian fintechs who want to enter western markets because we are demographically similar to much of Western Europe and North America. The population has high smartphone penetration and is digitally and financially literate. We have excellent financial inclusion with a banked population of nearly 100%.
Incentives, grants and support
Newcomers to the industry can access support through a number of sources, including Venture Capital Limited Partnership Program grants and for finance services exporters, the Export Finance Agency offers a range of programs.
We also offer a host of tax incentives, such as:
- Attribution managed investment trust tax regime
- Foreign resident capital gains tax regime
- Non-portfolio dividends – exemption
- Offshore Banking Units.
Source: Global Australia
Australia-Asia Business Week presented at Marvel Stadium, Docklands, Melbourne 5-6 October 2022, showcasing the pathways to Asia with a focus on India, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Join the Two-day Exhibitor Showcase – Free online visitor registration
Luncheon as a delegate
Highly recommended for enterprises seeking to develop their Asia strategy.
Visit https://australiaasiaforum.com.au/
