Symposium: Technological Innovation in Corporate Financing: Regulatory Challenges for the Fintech Era – Melbourne, Australia

The Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS) at Monash University Faculty of Law is hosting a symposium – Technological Innovation in Corporate Financing: Regulatory Challenges for the Fintech Era – at 9AM on Monday 12 November 2018 at Monash Law Chambers, Melbourne.

BACKGROUND & TOPICS: Over the past few years technical innovations in the financial sphere have transformed the way we “do” finance and the economic opportunities that this offers. In particular, recent efforts have sought to promote economic growth and development through the use of innovations such as peer-to-peer and equity crowdfunding that leverage the internet to offer opportunities to small-to-medium enterprises to raise funds, as well as the use of blockchain technology to promote fundraising through initial coin offerings (ICOs). These are just two examples where industry actors as well as governments have sought to use technological advancements to stimulate the economy where traditional sources of funding, such as bank lending, continue to struggle to meet the demands of economic growth and development since the global financial crisis.

What is often referred to as the “Fintech” transformation of the traditional financial sector has offered both opportunities and presented challenges for those engaged in the financial sector, those who rely on the financial sector to undertake economic endeavours and regulators that have been tasked with the increasingly complex oversight of financial activity since the crisis. The aim of this symposium is to explore some of these opportunities and challenges that Fintech presents to key actors: those involved in the financial sector (as broadly interpreted to include new entrants into the sector), those who rely on the sector to raise funds and the regulators involved in the process. Topics to be discussed include:
– Expansion of peer-to-peer and equity crowdfunding as a source of funding for start-ups and small-to-medium enterprises.
– Use of blockchain technology for the purposes of fundraising, for instance, through ICOs.
– Other technological financing innovations that are emerging and how these are promoting economic growth and development.
– Approaches that regulators have used to oversee Fintech, including the growth of Regtech and the use of regulatory “sandboxes” to test financial innovations.
– Considerations regarding the relationship between technical innovations in the financial sector to encourage growth and development versus the need to maintain financial stability.
– The adoption of Fintech and Regtech solutions that are potentially global in scope in a context of increasing nationalism.

The full program, list of speakers, and registration information is available on the website.

About the author

Library Technology Specialist, West Virginia University College of Law