The Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (‘CSSF’) and The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’) today signed a Cooperation Agreement which provides a framework for cooperation to understand financial innovation in each jurisdiction.

The Agreement provides a framework for information sharing between the two regulators on financial technology (fintech) and regulatory technology (regtech). It complements the existing close relationship between ASIC and the CSSF.

On entering the Agreement, ASIC Commissioner John Price said, ‘We see this agreement as very timely. Both our jurisdictions are leaders in funds management and other financial services. ASIC is very interested in learning from the fintech and regtech innovations that are taking place in the Grand Duchy. We look forward to sharing ASIC’s experience with our Innovation Hub and regulatory sandbox initiatives.’

Claude Marx, Chief Executive Officer of the CSSF said, ‘Fostering our cooperation with ASIC makes sense to us. Australia and Luxembourg are both strongly innovation-oriented jurisdictions, and we do think that such agreement will enhance our ability to adapt ourselves to the upcoming fintech challenges. We look forward to sharing views and experiences with our colleagues from the ASIC.’

In 2013, the regulators entered into memorandums of understanding on regulating entities that have presence in both Australia and Luxembourg, and specifically for funds management entities regulated under the EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).

This agreement is ASIC’s fifteenth fintech cooperation agreement overall and the fourth fintech information-sharing agreement, following on from agreements with China, Indonesia and Kenya.

Source: CSSF