The Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology has released its second report making a further 23 recommendations.

The committee’s first interim report of September 2020 set out 32 recommendations designed to help Australia’s FinTechs, and the technology sector more broadly, to grow and innovate through the pandemic. A number of the committee’s recommendations were picked up in the October 2020 Budget and in subsequent policy announcements.

For this second interim report released, the committee has again categorised its work across the key areas of: tax settings; regulatory issues; access to capital; and skills and culture.  In relation to migration the committee heard evidence on the importance of attracting global talent in order to grow the FinTech sector and create jobs, while bringing economic benefits to Australia. It found that in the current international competitive environment, getting the visa settings right has never been more critical to grow the sector and position Australia for a stronger economic recovery from recession.  It made the following recommendations to the Australian government:

• That it reviews the Global Talent Visa Program and Hong Kong visa arrangements to ensure international competitiveness, including consideration of salary caps, age thresholds, turnover requirements and key criteria.
• That when undertaking the review of the Global Talent Visa Program, consider providing clearer policies and guidelines on the identified target sectors.
• That it considers the introduction of more permanent residence visa options for employees of high-value businesses relocating to Australia.
• That it reviews its approach to the promotion of Australia as a destination for international talent in the FinTech and RegTech sectors, including through focussed marketing of the Global Talent Scheme and the Global Business and Talent Attraction Taskforce in target jurisdictions.
• Additionally, it was recommended that the Australian Government consider mechanisms to improve visa administration, including faster processing times, and ongoing review of visa eligibility to ensure visa categories are adaptable and responsive to market changes in the FinTech and RegTech sectors.

A full copy of the report can be found here and it will be interesting to see how next week’s budget considers these recommendations together with the interim report on the Inquiry into Australia’s Skilled Migration Program. Our summary on that report can be found here

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