{"id":47074,"date":"2023-10-20T15:52:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/four-steps-to-make-australia-a-fintech-powerhouse-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:52:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:52:19","slug":"four-steps-to-make-australia-a-fintech-powerhouse-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/four-steps-to-make-australia-a-fintech-powerhouse-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Four steps to make Australia a fintech powerhouse – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are four policy mechanisms every Australian state and federal government should be \u201cmajoring in\u201d in order to build a globally competitive fin tech industry, according to the CEO of fintech hub Stone and Chalk, Alex Scandurra.<\/p>\n

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He says Australia has all the basic ingredients, but lacks critical mass and the cultural focus that has built a successful fintech industry in England.<\/p>\n

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1. Tax incentives<\/b><\/p>\n


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\u201cUnlike parts of the United States, we\u2019re very similar to the United Kingdom in the we have a really big base of high net worths in Australia, but tech is foreign to them, and fintech is even more foreign to them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey don\u2019t feel comfortable investing in those areas because they don\u2019t understand it that well. And we know from stats all around the world that angels in particular, and even VCs, will only invest in assets that they understand and think they add value to.\u201d<\/p>\n

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One way to encourage investment is through tax incentives, like abolishing the capital gains tax on investments in startups, currently being examined by the federal government<\/a>. Scandurra would like to see the government go a step further and emulate the UK\u2019s Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), which both offer income tax relief for investors backing startups.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou never want to take a template, copy and paste, but in principle everything they\u2019ve done can be applied here,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey instituted these schemes to try to attract and mobilise some of that existing wealth, into the risk capital asset class. And so far it\u2019s doing really well. They\u2019ve gone from zero to hero in fintech.\u201d<\/p>\n

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2. STEM education<\/b><\/p>\n

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Queensland recently made coding and robotics compulsory<\/a> in schools and Scandurra believes STEM education is something all governments should be focusing on.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI strongly believe the current universal language is not English or Mandarin, but computer science,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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3. Build a culture that supports and encourages startups and their founders<\/b><\/p>\n


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\u201cIt\u2019s certainly encouraging that in his first speech as prime minister, [Malcolm] Turnbull mentioned innovation, disruption and agile,\u201d Scandurra says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd he seems to do it in a very authentic way. I know Labor have been looking at this for some time as well. All the signs there are positive, but what we haven\u2019t seen is the rhetoric translate into policy and therefore execution.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe government has a wonderful opportunity to lead by example. Even with something as simple as being a good customer of startups.\u201d<\/p>\n

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4. Make it easier to bring talent to Australia<\/b><\/p>\n


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Currently Australian startups rely on the Temporary Work Visa (457) visa to hire top talent from overseas and bring them to Australia. However like the Business Talent Visa (132), which is for non-Australian founders who want to establish a new or develop an existing business in Australia, lobby group StartupAUS believes entry requirements are too high.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cEven the United Kingdom, which sits within the European Union, which has many countries with talent they can access, instituted an entrepreneur visa so they could access talent from outside the EU,\u201d Scandurra says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe don\u2019t have a common market or Eurozone equivalent, so there\u2019s even more reason for us to do that and help plug the skills gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not only talented individuals Scandurra wants to attract, but also great startups. He believes Australia should do what the UK Trade Investment did recently for Australian startups<\/a>, and encourage those founders that wish to move to Australia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe could become the centre of gravity for fintech here in Asia, because we\u2019ve got everything else going for us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGreat academic institutions, a leading digital banking sector, the world\u2019s fourth largest base of superannuation, a really mature insurance industry.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve got all the ticks in the boxes. But what we don\u2019t have is critical mass. We don\u2019t have that whole culture which leads to deploying capital and believing in startups.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Want to grow your business with Instagram?<\/i> StartupSmart School can help<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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