The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in California, along with US crypto-focused Silvergate and Signature banks, has provoked financial regulator the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) to ramp up scrutiny of how exposed local bank are to cryptocurrency and startups.
Reports emerged this week that APRA is already asking banks to increase their reporting on crypto assets, right up to daily, in order for the regulator to keep an eye on any banking system vulnerabilities.
Startup Daily spoke to Swinburne Business School director of fintech Dr Dimitrios Salampasis about APRA’s move, the collapse of SVB, and the impact on the startup sector.
”Considering the recent incidents, the regulator is pushing for more transparency, holding banking institutions accountable for their crypto-related transactions,” he said.
“Crypto exposure should be aligned to the risk appetite and risk tolerance mechanisms of a banking institution.
“This scheme puts additional pressure to banking institutions to rethink crypto-related services and transactions with individual and institutional customers also considering the lack of a proper digital assets and crypto regulatory framework in Australia.”
Dr Salampasis is joining the Startup Daily show as a fortnightly commentator on fintech issues, every second Wednesday.
Alongside his roles as fintech capability leader and senior lecturer of fintech innovation and entrepreneurship at Swinburne School of Business, he is also a visiting professor of fintech at the University of Québec in Canada, a blockchain and Blockchain Australia’s educator of the year.
Click on the clip below to watch his interview with Startup Daily editor Simon Thomsen on the APRA crackdown.
You can turn into the Startup Daily show Monday to Thursday from 2-2.30pm on ausbiz.com.au, for the latest news in tech and startups.
If you can’t make it, then you can always catch up on what our guests had to say on demand via Startupdaily.net/tv or via ausbiz (it’s free to sign up).
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