Australian fintechs experiencing rapid growth

Australian fintechs experiencing rapid growth

Innovative platforms that drive increased global transparency and empower consumers in areas such as debt recovery, property remortgaging and ESG tokens are among some of Australia’s best and brightest fintechs.

Austrade’s Trade and Investment Commissioner for the UK and Ireland Ana Nishnianidze said there’s never been a time to be more optimistic about the future of Australian fintech.  “The Australian fintech sector has been growing fast thanks to a skilled work force and regulatory environment that encourages collaboration and innovation.”

Sydney is shaping the future of finance and tech in the Asia-Pacific. With an economy 50% larger than that of Singapore, Hong Kong or Malaysia, Sydney has attracted new players including Fenergo, Klarna, TrueLayer, Trustly and Wise. It is also home to world-class Australian fintechs such as Afterpay. These brilliant fintechs are sharing innovate new lifestyle banking products, fraud prevention against automated attacks and B2B integrated solutions to a global audience.

Melbourne has seen a boom in fintechs in recent years with Victorian fintech unicorns such as Pexa and Airwallex taking their products to the world. Global leading companies such as Revolut, Stripe, Square, Xero, Worldline, Transfermate and Gocardless have all set up their Australian or APAC head office in Melbourne drawn to the state by our strong talent base, thriving tech ecosystem, quality of life and cost of doing business.

Best of Australia’s booming fintech sector

Australia’s global fintech ranking has risen to second in the Asia-Pacific region and sixth in the world, making it an attractive destination for global fintechs seeking to expand or establish a foothold in the region.

One of these is French payments service provider Worldline, who recently entered a joint venture with Australian multinational ANZ to launch ANZ World Payments Solutions from its Melbourne headquarters.

“Australians have always been early adopters of new technologies such as contactless payment and digital wallets. Australia is number four globally for payment terminals per capita, and the local eCommerce market is tipped to get close to A$100 billion by 2025,” said Vincent Roland, Managing Director Merchant Services at Worldline.

Australian fintech phenomenon Airwallex, founded by four university students in Melbourne in 2015 and market valued at US$5 billion in late 2021, credits Australia’s unique fintech ecosystem as pivotal to their ongoing global success.

“The ecosystem around us played a key role in Airwallex’s growth. With operations in Melbourne and Sydney, we see the richness and depth of talent available in Australia,” said Craig Rees, Senior Vice-President and Global Head of Platform at Airwallex.

Australian fintechs launching in the UK

Almost three-quarters of Australian fintechs are planning on entering an overseas market in the next three years, and one quarter of Australian fintech companies are growing by more than 300 per cent each year.

InDebted, whose digital platform infuses compassion and client care into the debt recovery process, and PEXA, whose new payment scheme is improving outcomes and reducing costs for all parties in the property remortgaging process, are among the Australian fintechs recently announcing their launch into the UK.

Global fintech partnerships spur growth

Beyond international growth, global partnerships in Australia’s pioneering regulatory environment are shaping world-first legislation and frameworks to drive transparency and consumer protection.

With support from Singapore-based HBAR Foundation, Meeco has recently launched open-source platform Trustury to enhance data privacy and the verification mechanism of ESG tokens to support the sector’s growth.

As regulators demand higher standards of product performance and compliance, Skyjed aims to tackle greenwashing and other industry challenges with their robust product management platform, which reduces manual processes and improves accountability in the product lifecycle.

The UK’s Railsr – a pioneer of embedded finance technology, has partnered with Australia’s first neobank, Volt, and launched as ‘Railspay’ in March 2021. Global software business Pollinate signed a multi-year partnership agreement with National Australia Bank and recently announced the appointment of new Managing Director Linda Minassian to support their expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.

The future of Australian fintech is bright. For more information on opportunities in Australian fintech: www.austrade.gov.au/fintechinvest

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