The country is hoping to extend its agreement with the U.K. – designed to help fintechs in each jurisdiction get licensed in the other, and facilitate closer collaboration between financial authorities – to Singapore.
Australia is hoping to use a new treaty with Singapore to increase exports of fintech services and facilitate cross-border data exchange to expand the digital economy, according to a report in the «Australia Financial Review» on Thursday.
«Singapore is a valuable source of capital and skills for Australian firms,» Senator Jane Hume, Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology, told the Sydney newspaper (behind paywall). She said she is exploring expanding Australia's agreement with the U.K. to Singapore, so fintech start-ups can take advantage of closer digital trade between the countries.
«If we could build a "bridge" to Singapore, and then expand that out via a trilateral bridge between Australia, Singapore and the U.K. – that is a really exciting opportunity,» Hume said.
Harmonizing Regulations
Hume touted Australia's attractiveness as a fintech destination and its suitability as a testbed for Asian fintechs that want to enter Western markets, and added that Australia can also learn from Singapore's coordinated regulation of the data economy.
Negotiations for the Australia-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement were finalized in March. It aims to reduce trade barriers and increase collaboration between businesses and authorities in the two countries by harmonizing regulatory frameworks in a number of areas related to the digital economy.
The agreement is expected to become an additional chapter in the existing Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
