Is my fintech company eligible for assistance?

ASIC’s Innovation Hub is for fintech companies that need help with licencing. To be eligible for assistance, your business should either:

• Require an Australian financial services licence or an Australian credit licence from ASIC;
• Be in the process of obtaining one of those licences; or
• Already have one of those licences for less than 12 months.

Fintech licencing details

To determine whether you need help with licencing, you may need to read instructions specific to:

• Foreign exchange providers and remittance dealers
• ‘Non-cash payment facility’ product providers
• Marketplace lenders
• Digital advice (robo-advice and automated advice) providers

How ASIC selects fintechs to assist

If you do need assistance with licencing and have decided to apply, please note that the Innovation Hub is more likely to preference innovative businesses. ASIC considers ‘ground-breaking innovation’ to be new or significantly different products or services from those currently available.

Whether your fintech product or service can potentially provide a ‘better outcome’ for investors and consumers is a key factor we will also consider.

Two other factors will help determine whether your business is selected for assistance: the timing of your request within your business-planning process, and the level of detail you supply in your application. This is because both these issues will affect the quality of advice ASIC can provide.

Therefore, when filling in your application for assistance form please describe:

• what your business will be/is and the stage your innovation is at
• who your customers are
• product/services you’ll be providing and how
• how payment for the service you are offering will be managed
• other businesses you will work with, and
• the type of help you need from ASIC.

Fintech assistance checklist

1. Is your startup or scaleup developing financial products or services?
2. Does one of the specified licensing scenarios apply to your business?
3. Can you describe how your business works and who your customers are?
4. Is your innovation potentially ground-breaking?
5. Will your innovation provide a better outcome for investors and consumers?