Stoyan takes over from Cant as Fintech Australia chair

A statement from Fintech Australia said Stoyan has agreed to be FinTech Australia’s acting chair until June 2018, when new board elections will be held in line with constitutional requirements.

In 2015 MoneyPlace became Australia’s second fully licensed marketplace lending platform and Stoyan was a member of FinTech Australia’s founding committee in 2015.

He is currently a member of the Federal Treasurer’s Fintech Advisory Group and was also founder of the Fintech Census.

{loadposition peter}Cant led the founding of FinTech Australia in November 2015. He authored the initial fintech call to action which made the case to government for fintech to become a national innovation priority in the face of global financial services disruption.

At the Treasurer’s invitation, Cant also led the development of FinTech Australia’s initial reform priorities agenda in January 2016 which informed the Australian Government’s Backing Australian Fintech Policy and the establishment of the Treasurer’s Fintech Advisory Group.

“It’s been an honour to lead the launch of FinTech Australia and, with the support of a committed team led by Danielle Szetho and a dedicated group of fintech founders as my board colleagues, guide its rapid growth over the last two years,” Cant said.
 
Cant said FinTech Australia had advanced the fintech agenda significantly in the last two years with the majority of its reform priorities either enacted or the subject of major policy development initiatives including:
 
    

• A fintech regulatory sandbox
• Retail crowdfunding;
• The removal of goods and services taxation from digital currencies and bringing digital currency exchanges within the oversight of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre;
• Reform of venture capital (VC) legislation to improve fintech access to VC;
• A commitment to mandated comprehensive credit reporting; and
• A major policy review around open data and open banking.

“At the same time we’ve grown our membership base, to just under 200 members, and have delivered major programs including the national Finnies awards and the EY Fintech Australia Census.

“We have also delivered our annual Collab/Collide summit which last year attracted over 800 attendees and was held as part of the Intersekt fintech festival, which in itself attracted over 1500 delegates at various events over a week in Melbourne.

“It’s been an amazing journey to date and I am sure the organisation’s evolution will continue under Stuart’s able guidance, supporting the continuing growth and maturity of the fintech industry. I would also like to thank the support of my fellow board members of the current and previous board, including Stuart, in volunteering their time to help grow our community and industry.”

Stuart Stoyan said he looked forward to continuing to grow the fintech industry, including driving open banking reforms and seeking fintech access to the New Payments Platform.
 
“I expect that 2018 will be an incredibly enriching and exciting one for Australia’s fintech industry and therefore it is a fantastic time to be FinTech Australia’s chair,” he said.
 
Stoyan outlined his priorities for the coming months, which included:

•     Pushing for Australia’s proposed open financial data framework to be established in a way which empowered customers and brought a new wave of fintech innovation and competition to the financial services industry.
•     Ensuring Australia’s fintech community has the opportunity to leverage the benefits of the $1 billion New Payments Platform, which is expected to launch in mid-February.
•     Continuing to advocate strongly for initiatives to increase access to suitable talent for the fintech industry, including through improved science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) training and a skilled visa policy.
•     Strongly prosecuting the need for, and benefits of, increasing competition and choice across Australian financial services, including through the introduction of challenger bank licences.