Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Minister. That was my understanding as well. You did mention in your summary speech that you want to encourage a culture of risk taking in this particular industry, but, of course, risk taking has a downside, especially for those who are investors. Reading directly from the Parliamentary Library Bills Digest:

In order to facilitate the development of new Fintech products, ASIC's 'regulatory sandbox' allows new products to be tested in the Australian market for 12 months without requiring financial advisers or dealers of the product to first obtain an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) or Australian Credit Licence (ACL).

The licensing exemption is limited to those providing financial advice on the relevant products…

Essentially, by providing that exemption for the service provider they're able to sell these products to obtain finance—presumably equity—at an early stage if we're dealing with venture capital, high-risk kinds of projects, but with what information? If they don't go through the validation process to get their licence so that they have established they are 'viable', to use your words, where do advisers get their information on the risk aspects of these companies before they flog them to potentially unsuspecting investors?