Published on the 28/03/2017 | Written by Newsdesk
‘Opens doors’ for hundreds of Kiwi businesses seeking to trade with United Kingdom companies…
A new national umbrella organisation for financial technology providers, which operates under broader organisation NZTech, reckons it has paved the way for increases in financial innovation and technology development business between the UK and New Zealand.
FintechNZ was introduced in February this year. The organisation, led by NZTech chair Mitchell Pham, seeks to connect fintech industry operators, advance regulations, promote fintech solutions and improve collaboration between innovators in this sector. There are 14 members in the organisation, including government agency MBIE and state corporate welfare vehicles NZ Venture Investment Fund and Callaghan Innovation.
FinTechNZ claims the success on the back of a recent visit to Auckland by a UK fintech delegation which included representatives from eleven companies: Aire, Clarus FT, Clearmacro, FundApps, ingage, iwoca, neyber, ObjectTech, Onfido, Sybenetix and Tradle. Don’t recognise them? In addition to being a potentially annoying portmanteau and neologism, fintech is an emerging discipline, with plenty of entrepreneurs and startups clamouring for a slice of action which FintechNZ estimated to be worth $4.3 billion in the APAC region in 2015.
In a statement, Pham described the recent visit as ‘an immense success’ which connected the fintech communities of the two countries for the first time. “The UK fintech delegation met more than 100 Kiwi entrepreneurs, innovators and professionals from fintech businesses, financial institutions, industry associations and government agencies,” he said.
Also in on the action were government agencies MBIE, the Financial Markets Authority and the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund. The British group delivered fintech demonstrations at GridAKL and indulged in one-on-one meetings with Kiwi businesses.
Pham said there was strong interest in New Zealand from the UK companies. “Many direct business connections have been made. We have now established the beginning of an important relationship and they are already talking about future visits with more UK companies coming to New Zealand.”
What drives that interest? It could be a handy guinea pig: “New Zealand is an ideal market for innovating and testing new fintech developments before rolling out to other larger markets around the world. The UK is a global hub that could give Kiwi businesses more access to the global fintech market, as well as investment capital and international expertise,” said Pham.
He added that FinTechNZ is working to establish more of these direct relationships with other fintech nations and hubs, including Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and New York.
“These connections will give New Zealand fintech innovation greater access to more international markets. This will enable Kiwis to innovate for the global market and to export our innovations. New Zealand needs to be fully connected to and an integral part of the global fintech ecosystem as well as digital economy,” Pham said.
The 2016 TIN 100 report shows that fintech is New Zealand’s fastest-growing technology sector, at 31 per cent per annum. FintechNZ said this is almost twice that of the overall ICT sector, three times higher than agritech, and four times higher than the biotech sector.
