E-money and payments · ASIC / APRA
Australian non-cash payment facility licensing (ASIC)
Australia regulates payments through its general financial services licensing regime rather than a dedicated payments statute, with non-cash payment facilities authorised under an Australian financial services licence and stored value arrangements attracting prudential attention. That framework is being modernised: draft legislation would move payments to function-based licensing and replace the purchased payment facility concept with prudential oversight of larger stored value providers.
The regulator
ASIC administers financial services licensing and conduct, while APRA has the prudential role where a facility holds stored value in a way that resembles deposit taking. The split means some payments models answer to two authorities rather than one.
What the licence permits
Regulated under the ASIC / APRA
- Issue and operate non-cash payment facilities for Australian clients
- Provide payment services under an Australian financial services licence
- Connect to a modern domestic real-time payments infrastructure
- Serve a wealthy, digitally mature consumer market
Who it suits
Firms with a genuine Australian customer proposition, particularly those already holding or seeking an Australian financial services licence for other activities.
Market access
Access to the Australian market, with New Zealand handled under its own regime.
What to weigh
Because payments sit inside the general financial services framework, scoping the authorisations correctly is less obvious than in dedicated payments regimes. The reform in progress is the bigger planning point: anyone entering now should scope against where the framework is going, not only where it stands, and transition arrangements for existing providers are expected.
We run the Australia application end to end
Whether you build from new or acquire an existing licensed entity, BrokLicense handles incorporation, the regulator application, the AML and compliance framework, safeguarding and banking arrangements, and the operating stack. You stay the principal. We do the work, in confidence, and stay on for compliance once you are live.
Cost, capital, and timelines depend on your model and are set out in a first consultation, under NDA, not published here.
Other permissions in Australia
Related reading
- EMI vs Payment Institution: Which Licence Does Your Payments Business Actually Need?An e-money licence and a payment institution licence look interchangeable and are not. One lets you hold stored value, the other only moves it. Here is the line.
- How to Get an EMI Licence: What Electronic Money Authorisation Actually InvolvesAn EMI application is a business case, not a form. Here is what regulators examine, in what order, and where applications realistically stall.
- Where to Base an EMI: Choosing a Jurisdiction for an E-Money LicenceEvery EEA e-money licence passports to the same thirty markets, so the choice is not about reach. It is about the regulator, the banking, and the substance you can staff.
- Safeguarding: The Requirement That Decides Whether Your EMI Survives SupervisionSafeguarding is the single obligation supervisors test hardest at payments firms, and the one most often got wrong. Here is what compliant actually looks like.
E-money and payments in other Asia-Pacific jurisdictions
All jurisdictionsDiscuss your mandate in confidence
Every engagement begins under a mutual NDA. Set out the firm you intend to operate and the timeline you are working to, and you leave the first consultation with a recommended jurisdiction, the route to the licence, and a defined scope of work.
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