INDUSTRY.co.id - Melbourne - Australia's fintech community today received an Indonesian delegation consisting of financial regulators and 16 companies to discuss current topics around financial inclusion and stronger growth of the tech industry.

Indonesian companies present on this occasion are active businesspeople in the field of peer-to-peer (p2p) lending or financing, payments and investments. They were present with senior officials from the Financial Services Authority and Bank Indonesia on a three-day tour of two cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

The presence of technicians and state financial regulators on the way to Australia is among the largest in terms of number of participants.

The activities initiated by the FinTech Association of Indonesia and the Australian textile association are organized to build stronger networks and cooperation between the two countries in the context of the textile industry.

Indonesia grew as the second largest start-up center in Southeast Asia, marked by 53 investment projects in the textile industry predicted to be completed in 2017 and a total investment of US $ 3 billion disbursed to support early stage companies and start-ups until this year

At the same time, Australia currently has a very active tech industry with a growing number of companies from 100 companies in 2014 to nearly 600 companies today. Start-ups in Australia are dominated by Fintech with one of five start-up founders.

"Australia and Indonesia have active and mutually beneficial technological ecosystems, we are now beginning to build relationships between them," said Danielle Szetho, CEO of FinTech Australia (fintech association in Australia).

"Our market is very different and it provides a great opportunity to innovate if we can work more closely to help companies understand their markets."

Executive Director of the Public Policy of the Association of FinTech Indonesia, Ajisatria Suleiman, said, "Both countries can take lessons from this meeting especially since the Indonesian textile industry still sees great opportunity to support the growth of online transactions currently predicted to reach US $ 130 billion and to serve the sector UMKM is currently only 9 percent or about 4.6 million online. "

The meeting will also focus on the issue of financial inclusion seen by the Indonesian government as a key pillar in reducing poverty. The industry of Fintech is identified as one of the potentials that can encourage financial inclusion, both for businesses and individuals.

The growing of Fintech industry in Indonesia with a total number of business actors is at least 157 companies, continuing to build a business environment that leverages both regulatory, infrastructure and technology networks, to market readiness.

"I witness firsthand the potential of cooperation between Australian and Indonesian business actors in building technology companies - we just need to build closer relationships to open up other bigger opportunities," said Andy Zain, Managing Director of Kejora Ventures, a venture capital company in Indonesia.

The trip was also filled by a visit to the start-up hub in Sydney - the largest in its category in the southern hemisphere. The Indonesian delegation also visited the start-up incubator company, Stone & Chalk, located in Melbourne.

The Indonesian delegation also had the opportunity to learn more about the $ 1 billion New Payments Platform (NPP) that enables one to make real-time and data-rich payments in an effort to meet the needs of the digital economy. The NPP initiative is planned to be launched in early 2018.

In April 2017, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and OJK also signed an agreement to promote financial service innovation in each country.

The visit was initiated by FinTech Australia and the FinTech Indonesia Association implemented by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Economic Governance, Austrade, the governments of New South Wales and the Victorian, and Stone & Chalk.