New research released today by ASIC shows that Australia is well-placed to harness an ongoing surge of financial innovation.

The Innovation in Financial Technology and RegTech research, conducted by the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) for ASIC, lays out how Fintech and Regtech innovations are evolving across the world.

It highlights that artificial intelligence is becoming embedded in everyday financial operations, including credit underwriting, claims processing, portfolio management and disclosure.

ASIC Chair Joe Longo said, ‘Australia has long been a laboratory for innovation, gifting the world groundbreaking technologies from wi-fi to the cochlear implant. The same spirit exists in our financial system.

‘For example, Australia is a global leader in some areas, including its “world-class” payments infrastructure, and pioneering ‘buy now pay later’ sector.’

Mr Longo said that as the pace of change accelerates, industry and regulators will need to work together to ensure that Australia not only keeps up but stays ahead.

‘ASIC has often said we want to identify opportunities to back innovation in Australia, and it is clear that innovation can significantly improve productivity in our financial system, boost Australia’s economy and lead to better consumer experiences,’ said Mr Longo.

‘As a regulator, ASIC’s role is to make sure that when innovation happens, it happens safely and responsibly, with the wellbeing of end consumers at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Good regulation is good for consumers – and good for business.’

‘That’s why ASIC will continue to prioritise simple, principles-based regulation through our regulatory simplification initiative. We will continue to engage with industry to strike the right balance between protecting consumers, bolstering market integrity and promoting innovation.’

Commissioning the research forms part of ASIC’s strategy to support responsible innovation in Australia’s financial system. It will inform ongoing industry engagement, including through the ASIC Digital Finance Advisory Panel (DFAP) and targeted roundtables.

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Innovation in Financial Technology and RegTech

Background

Innovation in Australia

In 2025, Australian startups raised more than $5 billion in venture capital (VC) funding, the third best year on record, and up by almost half since 2018, just behind France and Germany.

For every $1 billion of VC money invested since 2000, Australia has produced 1.22 unicorns which is a higher ratio than any other country and almost twice the number for the United States.^[1]

Innovation Hub

Since 2015, ASIC’s Innovation Hub has helped innovative FinTech and RegTech businesses navigate the Australian regulatory framework. It also provides a platform for domestic and international engagement on financial innovation and RegTech-related developments.

ASIC supports the goal of responsible innovation by:

• providing informal assistance to innovative businesses on their potential regulatory obligations and the licensing process
• administering the Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox (ERS; where the legislation provides a limited licensing exemption for eligible fintechs to test innovative business models), and
• driving information sharing and cooperation through our external Digital Finance Advisory Panel (DFAP), and other regular engagement with industry and peer regulators, both domestic and international.

In November 2025, ASIC Chair Joe Longo announced that ASIC would review and re-launch the ASIC Innovation Hub, with a focus on seeking out ways ASIC can support financial market innovations in Australia.

This review concluded in March 2026, where we identified several areas where it can improve and several areas where ASIC will take the lead on navigating the structural change that system-wide innovation brings, so that Australia’s markets are fit for the future.

The DFCRC published another report (The Economic Impact Potential of Digital Finance Innovation in Australia Report) in March 2026.

Project Acacia

Earlier this week the RBA and DFCRC released the final report of Project Acacia, Exploring the role of digital money in wholesale tokenised asset markets. ASIC was one of the participating agencies in the project and continues to work with the RBA and other agencies on some further work flowing from the report.

Regulatory Simplification

In May 2026, we published our Regulatory simplification progress report, demonstrating ASIC's commitment to make regulation clearer, more accessible and easier to navigate.

In September 2025, we published our regulatory simplification report. The report sets out ASIC’s progress on initiatives and seeks a broad range of views on how we can more efficiently and effectively administer the law in the areas we regulate, how we can make it easier to interact with us, and how we can simplify guidance, legislative instruments and forms.

Opportunities to reduce red tape through law reform are also on the table. Our efforts to simplify regulation of the financial sector will deliver benefits for consumers, businesses and investors, while contributing to the Government’s productivity agenda.

^[1] ‘Australia’s startup scene is thriving at last’ (16 April 2026) The Economist