Committee report urges financial services export push

Australia’s capacity to export financial services to Asia is being hamstrung because the office charged with marketing such services does not have an office in the region, according to evidence presented to a key Parliamentary Committee.

The Investment and Financial Services Association campaign for tax reform to enable higher levels of financial services exports has been bolstered by the committee’s report handed down this week, which directly addresses the nation’s export future.

However, at the same time as noting Australia’s financial services export potential, the committee report remarked on evidence contained in submissions that markets in Asia, in particular, offer significant growth prospects for the Australian financial services industry.

“While these opportunities do exist, Axiss — the organisation charged with marketing Australia as a financial services hub — does not have a presence in the Asian region,” the report said.

The report by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration found financial services represented a healthy and important $70 billion industry within Australia, but that exports from the industry remained “comparatively modest”.

It said that as relationships developed with Asian neighbours, the export of financial services was likely to expand across a range of areas including superannuation and retirement savings — an area where Australian financial services providers have distinct expertise.

The committee report said the Australian Government could aid the process of expansion by continuing to simplify the taxation system, encouraging regulatory harmonisation with major trading partners, and by placing a higher priority on the non-tariff barriers facing the financial services industry in trade negotiations.