The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission have signed a so-called enhanced co-operation agreement for the benefit of their 'innovation hubs' to extend their existing agreement of co-operation and co-ordination to do with financial IT.

In this enhanced agreement, the FCA and ASIC have agreed to explore ways to quicken the licensing process in terms of the authorisation of innovative businesses that are already authorised in the other jurisdiction. Where a business is a participant in either authority's 'regulatory sandbox' and would like to enter the other's, ASIC and the FCA will endeavour to facilitate that participation. This agreement forms part of the broader 'Fintech Bridge' compact signed by the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Australian Treasurer.

ASIC and the FCA will also look to co-host FinTech and RegTech events, conduct joint policy work, research and experimentation and explore secondment opportunites. They will raise topics or approaches of common interest with each other.

ASIC and the FCA will continue to refer innovative fintech businesses to each other for advice and support via their respective Innovation Hubs.

Building on co-operative agreements such as this one, the FCA also recently asked for views on the merits of creating a global sandbox. This might allow firms to conduct tests in different jurisdictions at the same time and allow regulators to work together and identify and solve common cross-border regulatory problems.