Wirecard brings its platform services around digital financial technology to Australia and New Zealand
Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, today announced its platform expansion in Australia and New Zealand. The Wirecard platform is now available in New Zealand for e-commerce services and Australia for omnichannel solutions. With this expansion, Wirecard is extending its ecosystem of real-time value added services around innovative digital payments in Oceania. This leverages on the global Wirecard strategy of digitizing payments worldwide as Australia is leading innovation in areas such as contactless payments, bill payments, digital commerce, and point-of-sale applications, and the market is ready to make the next transformation. Research and Markets found out that the Australian payment mix is shifting heavily toward electronic payments. […]
How Westpac is investing in fintechs and spending $1 billion on digital transformation
Westpac’s annual results show how far the bank has gone to transform itself into a digital showcase and how it has been heavily investing in the rise of disrupting fintechs. Out of a total investment of $1.4 billion, the bank spent more than $800 million in system upgrades, digital transformation, and innovation. CEO Brian Hartzer says the focus has been on delivering technology platforms, while simplifying and automating processes to make banking easier. “We have already migrated 100 applications onto our cloud infrastructure platforms which are now largely complete,” he says. “Additionally we have over 120 APIs in production and another 180 in development.” Among digital initiatives are Siri for […]
Fintechs ‘hit wall’ in industry engagement
Fintechs still struggle to reach out to insurers and the wider financial services sector, according to the third annual EY FinTech Australia Census. The proportion of fintechs that consider building partnerships with incumbents a key external challenge has increased to 46% from 40% last year. “Many fintechs report that the major financial services organisations remain difficult to engage with and slow to act,” the census report says. “Some talk of having ‘hit a wall’.” Legacy structures and mindsets are among the barriers fintechs face. The industry’s frosty reception may force fintechs to seek alternative partners in the UK and other countries. “Since the first edition of the census, major institutions […]
Roadmap created to increase access to basic financial services for millions
UNSW Sydney Scientia Professor Ross Buckley has co-authored an international report that highlights the difficulty in accessing basic financial services for billions of people around the world. The ‘FinTech for Financial Inclusion‘ report will be presented at the 3rd annual Inclusive and Sustainable Finance Research Conference on 13 November in Luxembourg. Professor Buckley is a Scientia Professor and King & Wood Mallesons Chair of International Financial Law at UNSW and together with his co-authors – Professor Douglas Arner of the University of Hong Kong and Professor Dirk Zetzsche of the University of Luxembourg – has developed a road map to harness the full potential of fintech for financial inclusion. Their approach […]
Tech tool to support Chinese investment in Australia
A fintech has announced that its verification tool will be offered in China to support the purchasing of Australian property. Through IDSecure, legal technology provider GlobalX has expanded its Verification of Identity (VOI) technology into China to help facilitate the purchasing process for Chinese investors looking to purchase property in Australia. GlobalX has said that IDSecure’s bilingual verification agents, based in Beijing’s China World Trade Centre, will provide a complete VOI service to “increase the efficiency of land and property transactions in Australia”. GlobalX CEO Peter Maloney said that the announcement enables Australian legal practitioners to “quickly and easily” verify their China-based clients. “This service means IDSecure’s VOI professionals will […]
Bitcoin: Ten Years On
A mysterious, anonymous entity known as “Satoshi Nakamoto” posted a white paper on October 31 2008 entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. It was the first time that the concept of Bitcoin entered the world. But outside of the cypherpunk mailing lists – those promoting the use of privacy-enhancing technology – this event was hardly noticed. Ten years on, who hasn’t at least heard of the cryptocurrency? On just nine pages, the white paper explained how the Bitcoin system would work. Many attempts at electronic cash had already been made going right back to computer scientist David Chaum’s “Digicash” developed in the 1980s. Using an intricate dance of cryptography, […]
Fintechs: a partner, not a predator
The rise of financial technology – or “fintech” – firms is often characterised in terms of “disruption” and “displacement,” as though the fintechs are destroying incumbent business models and putting traditional businesses to the sword. Technology is one of the key drivers impacting large financial institutions today. The reality is that instead of being threatened by emerging fintechs, firms have an opportunity to leverage fintechs to increase their existing technology capabilities to ensure the service provided to their clients remains relevant. By partnering with the right technology service providers, opportunities for both new business and expanded client offerings, will prepare companies for the future of investing. Developing technology in-house has […]
Neobanks are about to explode onto the Australian market
A number of restricted banking licences are expected to be issued to aspiring neobank startups by Australian authorities in the next few months. A raft of fintech players, including Xinja and Up, have already completed detailed applications to the prudential regulator APRA. The first licence went to Volt in May this year, creating another bank in Australia for the first time in 28 years. Since then, key players have been working to complete the regulatory hurdles to be able to call themselves a bank. APRA hasn’t a timetable for an announcement of new restricted authorised deposit-taking institution (RADI) licences but several startups expect an announcement shortly. The new restricted licence […]
