Recently, Capital.com, a high-growth global fintech innovator has received a license to operate in Australia and opened an office in Melbourne.
The platform will operate with an Australian Financial Services (AFS) license, granted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the company said.
The approval of the AFS license marks Capital.com’s latest commitment to expand across the globe offering clients a highly regulated and secure trading experience.
Currently, Capital.com has entities that are regulated by either the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in Europe or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK.
Recognised as one of the fastest growing fintechs in Europe, this is the latest expansion initiative by Capital.com to enable more people to trade and invest in financial markets.
“ASIC applies enhanced levels of regulation to the Australian securities market, making it one of the most comprehensive and well-respected regulators in the world. The AFS license affirms our commitment to meet the highest compliance standards worldwide, marking yet another important milestone in the strategic development of Capital.com as a fast-growing, regulated investment trading platform. Known in the UK for our excellent customer satisfaction levels, we are excited to bring our services to the tech-savvy Australian investor base and to support more people in their trading and investing journeys,” said Jonathan Squires, Group Chief Executive Officer at Capital.com.
Given the growing interest in fintech globally, Australia is also witnessing a strong momentum in the fintech space.
Innovation in Fintech
With the onset of the pandemic, there is an increasing need for transactions to be carried out digitally, which is opening doors for many financial institutions. Daniel Teper, National Fintech Lead, KPMG Australia is of the view that despite the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, increased digitisation across financial services and new customer behaviours have created new opportunities for innovation.
“The overall impressive net growth in the number of fintechs illustrates both the robust market dynamics and a strong support for the fintech sector in Australia,” he said.
The KPMG Fintech Landscape 2020, which captures the breadth and depth of fintech startups active and headquartered in Australia, provides a snapshot of the innovation taking place across the financial services technology sector. It shows a total of 733 currently active fintechs, up from 629 when the landscape was last released in September 2019.
“As Australian fintechs continue to evolve, we’ve seen a repurposing and recategorisation of some businesses as they mature their monetisation strategy and business models. In addition, we’re seeing rationalisation and consolidation within some categories, a trend we expect to see more of as the market continues to mature and category winners, and losers, emerge,” Teper said.
According to KPMG’s report, there was an increase in the number of fintechs within the lending category supported by new players in both consumer and SME lending sub-sectors who recognise the size and profitability of those segments, as well as an increase in Buy-Now-Pay-Later providers (some reclassified from the payments category since 2019).
Further, growth in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency-associated fintechs matches the general support and interest in the technology asset class across the past year. The continued evolution of the neobank sector, even though a number of neobanks have been impacted by delays to APRA’s licensing process.
Also, Insurtech has maintained momentum on the back of impressive growth in 2019, the report said. It is in this backdrop that Capital.com which has an established a strong track record in Europe, comes in. In the first half of 2021, the platform reported a 400 per cent rise in new clients compared to H2 2020.
Over the same period, it saw a global pick-up in trading activity, with total client trading volumes across all markets growing by more than 184 per cent. These results reflect Capital.com’s growing reputation as a platform of choice among retail traders globally.
Peter Richards, who has extensive experience in the Australian online trading and investment space, has been appointed Director of Capital Com Australia Limited. He will help drive the company’s growth as well as oversee recruitment.
“Capital.com is one of the fastest growing fintech companies operating in the retail trading space. The platform has a tremendous opportunity to grow in this region and to help more Australians access financial markets securely and responsibly. Underpinned by Capital.com’s comprehensive education resources, we aim to bring the platform’s cutting-edge technology and intuitive UX to as many Australians as possible supported by our on-the-ground teams and local expertise,” said Peter Richards, Director of Capital Com Australia Limited.
As an AFS-licensed entity, Australian clients can trade derivatives on more than 3,000 of the world’s most popular indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, shares and currency pairs through Capital.com’s web and mobile platforms.
Australian clients will be able to access financial lessons, videos, quizzes and other trading support tools via the platforms’ free education app, Investmate app. Clients will also receive regular news feeds, financial market content and analysis through the platform’s extensive education resources available on the Capital.com website and the Youtube trading channel, Capital.com TV, the company said.
