Sydney’s momentum in Financial Services is unmistakable. Financial services is equal to mining as the biggest contributor to the national economy. Financial services is NSW’s biggest industry and Sydney dominates as Australia’s leading financial services centre. In a global assessment of Fintech hubs by EY, Sydney ranked 5th. Behind public discussion about the role of major banks in our economy, new and established companies are choosing to locate and grow their financial services operations in Sydney. Sydney is home to 59{49a7e38090d84b81a7ba1bb67cd1b3b0d9cda4ef54936562ea834556eae8bfc9} of Australian Fintech start-ups has been the major recipient of Fintech-related VC investment since 2014.
Who we are
The Financial Services Knowledge Hub is one of 5 Industry led Hubs initiated by the NSW Government. Amongst our successes are the establishment of Stone & Chalk and the partnership on Fintern Fever, an internship program for students to work in fintech.
Financial Services Knowledge Hub publications
Stone & Chalk
Research into the Fintech opportunities spurred action in 2015 leading to the creation a local hub for accelerating and developing Fintech startups. The result was Stone & Chalk which is a not-for-profit Fintech hub bringing together VCs, entrepreneurs, established financial services firms and governments to support the development of financial services-focused technology startups.
Stone & Chalk officially opened their doors at 50 Bridge Street on 25th August. In addition to physical proximity to fellow fintech startups, residents have access to supporters from financial institutions, technology companies, leading universities, government and regulators.
Stone & Chalk runs events, mentorship and accelerator programs, as well as fostering connections with the wider startup, technology and financial eco-systems here in Australia and globally.
To find out more, visit their website.
A year after its launch, Stone & Chalk has grown to be a successful fintech hub, with over 65 startup resident companies attracting $42million of investment. Watch this video by the Department of Industry to learn more.
The future of Sydney’s Fintech sector
One of the key issues raised by firms is the pipeline of talent with a massive gap existing between education and practice and the shift towards STEM in high schools and universities taking time to filter through. Other global cities are engaged in supporting training and workshop initiatives to arm first time Fintech entrepreneurs with hands on learning that would otherwise be unavailable or take years to acquire.
Fintern Fever, supported by the NSW Financial Services Knowledge Hub partnered with Stone & Chalk, FINSIA and Data61, is an innovative summer internship program giving university students the opportunity to work with local startups in the fintech space. Between December 2015 and February 2016, around 25 university students will experience life in a startup, while at the same time the startups benefit from additional skills and resources.
Areas for collaboration with Government and regulators
New disruptive models such as crowd sourcing are peer-to-peer lending are very finance ‘du jour’ but the regulations around finance are myriad and complex and can easily act as barriers to entry for fintech startups.
These regulatory barriers are frequently cited as inhibiting innovation in financial services and protecting incumbent providers. Shaping the ideal regulatory settings for the growth of fintech is therefore a current focus of the Financial Services Knowledge Hub. This includes ensuring legibility and consistency across regulations (to reduce the administrative and compliance costs for start-ups), while maintaining consumer protections and stability in the financial system.
Why partnership matters
The most successful international cities are those who have adopted the ‘collaborate to compete’ ethos. The transformation of the financial services sector requires a concerted effort to build the ecosystem of talent, evolve the regulatory settings and a willingness to buy-in to this greater collaboration. Structuring and enabling these partnerships – between banks, alternative finance providers, insurance providers, entrepreneurs, universities, fund managers and investors, and indeed government – is vital to our overall success.
Financial Services Knowledge Hub Board
The activities of the Financial Services Knowledge Hub are guided by a board representing the breadth of expertise across the sector, including:
The Hon. Warwick Smith AM, Chair (NSW and ACT), ANZ (Chair)
Nick Abrahams, Partner & APAC Technology Practice Leader, Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
Martin Blake, Chairman NSW, KPMG
Andrew Chick, CEO (Aust/NZ), Royal Bank of Scotland
Craig Dunn, Chair of Stone and Chalk
David Gallagher, CEO, Centre for International Finance and Regulation
Amanda Harkness, Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, ASX
Sally Loane, CEO, Financial Services Council
Drew Riethmuller, Deputy General Manager Head of Corporate Finance, Oceania, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
Spiro Pappas, Executive General Manager, Global Institutional Banking, Business Banking, National Australia Bank
Ken Woo, Partner, Tax & Financial Services, PwC
