The Regulation Conversation

Dear Readers

I am so glad that we are nearly at the stage where we can clone ourselves, there is so much going on.

Still high on the agenda following the recent revamp of the FinTechNZ strategy is engagement with Government and I am really looking forward to the Regulation Lunch that we are hosting on 5 September. We will have all the regulators and Minister Faafoitogether to discuss the future of financial services. We will be covering regulation, funding, collaboration, accelerators and much more.

I was recently on a panel hosted by the Financial Services Council (FSC) and spoke alongside Minister Parker and Jeremy Muir talking about Trading on a global platform. There was great, honest conversation and the Minister gave some excellent insights. I also met with Minister Shaw to talk about Green Fintech and some of the work that is being done in China and Stockholm in regards to this, again creating sustainable financial inclusion.

Recently we supported Mastercard with the launch of their Start Path program and it was great to see one of our members accepted onto this global program, AIDER is going from strength to strength, for more information please get in touch.

Attending the Women in Insurance conference where we heard from Karen Walker on how to be an effective leader, Larissa Vaughan on creating inclusion in the workplace and Ian Pollard on how men can be champions for change, I must admit I did feel a little like a fish out of water as there were only a handful of men in attendance. It was good to have the shoe on the other foot for a change. 

The InsurTechNZ event hosted by Jeremy Muir was a roaring success, it is a part of the Financial Services sector that really is gathering momentum, more on that from the Chair of InsurTechNZ later.

I spent a few hours at Unitec talking about all things Fintech and spoke to over 200 students about their future within the industry. They were very interested in what’s going on in this space and how they can get involved.

Next I joined the panel discussion at the HK Festival Business Seminar alongside Stephen Phillips, Director General of Invest Hong Kong, Sargon Elias, Managing Director, GPP Markets Ltd, David Tyrer, Head of Transformation, ANZ Bank New Zealand, hosted by MC: Dr Heida Donegan, President of the HKNZBA, Moderator: Peter McDonald, Investment Manager NZTE HK. This was a great opportunity to really uncover the opportunities for New Zealand companies in Hong Kong with the launch of the new tech park in the Greater Bay Area, Cyberport and an easier regulation landscape. This forms part of the pre visit to Hong Kong for Hong Kong FinTech week in early November.

We are also heading to London as part of a joint delegation with FinTech Australia and the UK Department of International Trade for the Sibos and Lendit conferences in late September. This will help us prepare a report on what needs to go into the Free Trade Agreement between the UK and New Zealand to create the right opportunity for fintech to thrive between both countries. We will be seeking input around barriers and opportunities that need to be addressed to make that happen, your input would be greatly appreciated.

I am still keen to get Facebook onto a panel to discuss the implications of Libra so watch this space.

I also want to highlight some of the working groups for those that want to get involved, InsurTechNZ which is chaired by Jason Roberts, WealthTech which is chaired by Rachel Strevens, Open Ecosystem which is chaired by Shahid Sahid, Start-ups and RegTech which are chaired by Tim Larkin and next week FinTechNZ will take ownership of the Regulation Roundtable which Larissa Vaughan set up and has done an amazing job leading over the last 18 months. We will look to build on this momentum and will be looking for someone to become of the Chair of that group, with support from FinTechNZ and NZTech.

If you know of any companies creating something exciting in the fintech space please feel free to connect me in order to help give them a voice to the ecosystem.

James Brown
General Manager
FinTechNZ

---

InsurTechNZ

Update from the Working Group Chair, Jason Roberts

InsurTechNZ is back ‘into’ it again with a packed agenda for the next four months with a mix of events, conferences and various submissions. Somewhat topical of course is the critique of the insurance sector and the need to improve customer outcome. To this important and ongoing challenge, InsurTechNZ has taken the position that innovative thinking and the benefits of technology offer true benefit to both customers and insurers. On July 31 we held an excellent presentation and workshop event hosted by Minter Ellison with JRNY and FMA both sharing insights from different perspectives. This evening we are exploring where the ‘rubber hits the road’ looking at a ‘ClaimsTech’ theme hosted by a partnership between AA, Inno and Crawford, it should be a very compelling session.

Future direction? InsurTechNZ really wants to focus on our purpose going forward and we are interested to hear your views. Should we, for example, be more active in the political arena, maybe technology, or perhaps customer outcome? Maybe less or more events? Let us know your views.

Finally, next month we are working on our first InsurTechNZ member only newsletter. This will include new dimensions such as a calendar of events, conferences and publications from New Zealand and overseas. Watch this space!

---

WealthTechNZ: Update from the Working Group Chair, Rachel Strevens

WealthTechNZ is gathering momentum, with a number of initiatives underway in areas affecting the wealth and investment services industry. Current initiatives include: increasing knowledge and understanding of online AML and best practices, activities to support robo/digital advice, and the development of industry standards around Term Deposit transactions. If you are interested to find out more about a particular initiative or get involved, please get in touch.

We are excited to host our next WealthTech Connect event on Thursday 29th August, Online AML for Wealth & Investment Managers. Join us for networking drinks and a panel discussion where we will hear directly from the FMA with their thoughts around digital AML processes. Full event details are here, we hope you can join us!

---

---

---

---

Follow FinTechNZ on Twitter/LinkedIn/FB for the latest
updates in Financial Technology here and overseas