The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on Friday published a report outlining its plans in the emerging regulatory technology, or regtech, sector.
Among other things, the ASIC says it will: establish a new regtech industry network that includes regulators, tech firms, financial firms, consumer groups and academics; conduct a number of trials using regtech applications in its own supervisory and enforcement work; and hold a hackathon later this year to explore possible tech-driven solutions to long-standing regulatory challenges.
The Australian regulator says the regtech plans follow from roundtable events held earlier this year, which highlighted the importance of increasing engagement between regulators and the industry to help regtech flourish.
“ASIC is committed to supporting developments in the regtech sector and a key aspect of our approach is to learn from industry input as well as good international case studies and our own experiences engaging with the sector,” says John Price, ASIC commissioner, in a statement.
“ASIC believes regtech can help organizations build a culture of compliance, identify learning opportunities and save time and money relating to regulatory matters, while improving compliance and outcomes for consumers. Our goal is to see the community benefit from these new technologies whilst minimising any potential risks.”
The ASIC report details the regulator’s approach to regtech, and invites feedback from the sector and the securities industry generally. It also provides an update on the regulator’s efforts to help innovative fintech businesses navigate the regulatory framework.
The report also notes that the first firm to utilize a regulatory waiver granted under the ASIC’s regulatory sandbox began operations earlier this month.
In Canada, securities regulators have also adopted the “regulatory sandbox” approach to facilitating fintech innovation; the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) held Canada’s first regulatory hackathon last year.