Daniel Mulino Launches a New Era for Australian Fintech
Synopsis
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino is betting on a more agile regulatory system to support Australia’s fintech future. His new strategy proposes flexible sandboxes, coordinated government action and targeted testing for emerging financial technologies.
Australia has launched the Financial Innovation Strategy to guide policy coordination, establish a new government-industry committee and evolve beyond the current Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox to a more flexible testing regime.
The Financial Innovation Strategy was officially launched in Sydney on 3 September 2026 by Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino and the Treasury released the strategy as a final report on the same day. The report provides a common set of goals for regulators and the financial sector by combining existing government initiatives.
New framework changes how fintech can be tested
The Financial Innovation Strategy is the result of the Independent Review of the Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox completed earlier this year and which included six recommendations, including greater specificity in the use of the sandbox and a greater focus on national priorities and new technologies.
Under the new approach, the Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox will be replaced with a more flexible model that uses ASIC's existing regulatory relief powers. The regulators will also be able to think about targeted sandboxes for, for example, AI-powered financial services and digital financial market infrastructure.
The Financial Innovation Strategy is the creation of a Financial Innovation Committee to enhance the coordination of government, regulators and industry and the strategy also calls for the policy and regulatory action of artificial intelligence, tokenised assets, digital money and digital financial market infrastructure.
Australian fintech funding remains below regional leaders
The Financial Innovation Strategy is part of Australia's fintech industry's bid to attract the attention of investors in the region amid a rush of capital from bigger markets in Asia-Pacific. KPMG's Pulse of Fintech H1 2026 revealed a total of US$456 million from 28 fintech transactions in Australia during the first half of 2026.
India was the top country in the region with US$2 billion through 101 deals, followed by South Korea with US$899 million across 31 deals and Singapore with US$499 million across 53 deals. In Asia Pacific, US$4.6 billion was invested across 350 deals, while Japan saw US$204.5 million in investment in 37 deals.
The investment in fintech in H1 2026 totaled US$103.1 billion, across 2,100 investment deals, with the United States having the largest share of investment in the Americas, at US$80.8 billion.
ASIC report tracks growing financial technology activity
Australian financial tech and RegTech firms raised a total of over A$5 billion in VC funding in 2025, which was the third-best year in the country's venture capital funding history, according to ASIC's Report 834: Innovation in Financial Technology and RegTech – A Landscape Review.
The report covered gains in the credit, insurance, payments and other financial services markets, including the role of artificial intelligence in credit scoring, insurance claims, financial portfolio management, and financial disclosures.
The Financial Innovation Strategy details the government's policy framework, and ASIC and other regulators are still working on financial technology, market infrastructure and financial technology regulatory needs.
Source: Capital Brief
Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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