Siena is a medieval city in Tuscany, whose historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In it, the traditional horse race named Il Palio takes place twice a year since 1633, in July and August. Ten horses and riders, who represent ten of the seventeen city quarters called contrade (contrada, in the singular form), compete in the 90-second race around Piazza del Campo. The contest is more than a competition as it is part of the pride of the city itself which relies on the rivalry of each ward. 

The Australian Parliament, through the voice of Treasurer Scott Morrison, recently introduced a bill aimed at removing the regulatory barriers to Crowd-Sourced Funding (CSF). CSF is a fundraising model that allows individual investors to directly invest in small companies, which might otherwise struggle to access affordable sources of funding. The concept of CSF is better known as ‘equity crowdfunding’ in other countries, and is for instance described as such in the American legislation.

Launching a digital finance portal for the first time can be difficult. From our experience, we understand there are many moving parts to this venture so, at a high level, we have outlined the main considerations when starting such an undertaking. 

In a post published on our blog last year, we described Islamic Finance as 'one of the next frontiers of crowdfunding', saying that we  could certainly expect to see more and more ‘digital investing conducted under Islamic Finance principles’. 
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​According to the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion Database, only 51% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean has a bank account.  This figure varies greatly between countries, with more than 80% of the adult population remaining ‘unbanked’ in Nicaragua for less than 35% in Brazil and Costa Rica.
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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched a consultation paper in February last year proposing measures to facilitate access capital for startups and SMEs. With the responses received, 8 June 2016 MAS announced new measures to simplify the use of securities crowdfunding (SCF) for companies that are looking to raise funds, as well as for crowdfunding platform operators. 

While more than a third of all US states have enacted laws allowing digital investing, California is still without an intrastate securities crowdfunding regulation. Investing in startups, family-businesses and more in general in SMEs, is not that easy yet. The good news is that things are likely to change shortly.
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The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), recently announced the regulatory framework for peer-to-peer (P2P) financing, setting out requirements for the registration of platform operators. Those interested to start a P2P financing platform can submit their application to the SC starting yesterday, May 2 2016.