The Australian Government has pledged $150,000 to Sydney-based fintech accelerator Stone & Chalk to champion the nation's startup economy in the Asia-Pacific region.
The injection of funds follows the inaugural meeting this week of the Turnbull Government's expert-led fintech advisory group chaired by Craig Dunn, chairman of Stone & Chalk and director of Westpac Bank.
The funding was announced by Australian treasurer Scott Morrison at a fintech roundtable in Shanghai.
"Consumers in Asia have been amongst the fastest to adopt innovative financial services and with investment quadrupling to nearly US $4 billion in 2015, fintech is booming in the Asia-Pacific region," he says. "Fintech is a pivot point of our alignment with the transitioning economies and our regional trading partners, especially China."
Stone & Chalk's 'Fintech Asia' programme has been devised to provide a two-way route between local and overseas startups and to champion Australia as a regional hub for financial technology.
Says Morrison: "We will support the industry in its objective of making Australia the leading market for fintech innovation and investment in Asia by 2017."