HONG KONG: The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and ASIC today signed a Co-operation Agreement which provides a framework for cooperation to support and understand financial innovation in each economy. This Cooperation Agreement builds on the already close ties between ASIC and the SFC, as well as the Australia-Hong Kong trade and investment relationship more broadly. Hong Kong is already Australia’s seventh most important destination for services exports, valued at AUD$2.4 billion last year, and sixth largest source of services imports, valued at AUD$3 billion.
The agreement will enable the SFC and ASIC to refer innovative fintech businesses to each other for advice and support via ASIC’s Innovation Hub and its Hong Kong equivalent, the SFC’s Fintech Contact Point. This means Australian fintech businesses wishing to operate in Hong Kong will now have a simple pathway for engaging with the SFC, and vice versa. The Innovation Hub and Fintech Contact Point offer assistance to innovative fintech businesses to understand the regulatory regimes in each of their jurisdictions.
