But Ken, for listeners who may be less familiar with the concept, what was the purpose of the sandbox, and what was the FMA looking to achieve?

Sure, Jeremy.

At a high level, a regulatory sandbox is a control environment set up by a regulator that allows fintechs to test new products and business models in the real market but under a bespoke set of conditions and with close regulatory oversight.

The idea is really to give innovative fintechs a safe environment to bring something new to the market.

often something that doesn't really fit neatly within existing regulatory perimeter, while making sure that consumers are still appropriately protected and that any risks are properly managed.

So it's pretty much about a balancing act between enabling innovation on the one hand, and maintaining the integrity of financial market and consumer protection on the other.

In the context of the New Zealand pilot, it's worth noting that this isn't really a rules-based sandbox with preset parameters, unlike, for example, the UK FCA sandbox, which has been running for a number of years now, and it's now operating with Publish Entry Criteria, or the Singapore MAS Framework, which offers a structured pathways with predefined environments for eligible activities.

This is something that globally has been a big issue And the sandbox gave the FMA a first chance to really grapple with how they might address it.