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The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has entered into a cooperation agreement with the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) to establish a framework for cooperation on financial technology (Fintech) (Note 1).
Under the agreement, the SFC and the ISA will cooperate on information sharing, potential joint innovation projects and referrals of innovative firms seeking to enter one another’s markets.
“This agreement underscores the SFC’s continued efforts to strengthen regulatory cooperation with counterparts and to keep abreast of innovation in financial services,” said Mr Ashley Alder, the SFC’s Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to working closely with the ISA to provide innovative firms seeking to develop and grow their business with internationally enhanced channels for communication with regulators.”
Ms Anat Guetta, Chairwoman of the ISA, announced that, “Israel, as a start-up nation, therefore naturally aspires to allow the companies that are founded and grow here the regulatory infrastructure and environment that supports the development of Fintech innovation. We have set innovation as our strategic goal. The agreement with the SFC is an additional milestone of our fruitful cooperation, and is another step that will provide the ISA and many Israeli companies with a broad international perspective on the latest trends and opportunities that will support Fintech growth in Israel and worldwide.”
The agreement follows the launch of the SFC’s Fintech Contact Point in March 2016 and the ISA’s Fintech Innovation Hub in July 2018 (Notes 2 & 3).
Notes:
- The cooperation agreement, signed on 17 November 2020, is posted on the SFC website.
- The SFC established its Fintech Contact Point in March 2016 to enhance communication with businesses involved in the development and application of Fintech in Hong Kong. The purpose of the Fintech Contact Point is to facilitate the Fintech community’s understanding of the current regulatory regime and to enable the SFC to stay abreast of the development of Fintech in Hong Kong.
- In July 2018, the ISA established a Fintech Innovation Hub. This initiative is aimed at promoting common discourse between the ISA and relevant players in the field of Fintech. The ISA is set to promote and enable technological and business innovation in the area of financial services. The ISA aims at establishing trust and providing certainty to the Fintech industry and encourages market actors in the Fintech industry to contact its staff with the purpose of becoming familiar with the relevant regulatory framework and to examine any required adjustments to their activity, through guidance of the ISA’s staff.
