Praemium doubles profit, SMA hits $5.6bn
Australian and UK domiciled SMA provider Praemium has posted a net profit after tax of $1.4 million, up 106 per cent on 2016-17 figure of $688,000. The company’s core service, namely SMA administration, has grown well in the past year. Praemium’s Australian SMA is up 45 per cent to $5.61 billion, and the international SMA is up 20 per cent to $2.68 billion. Praemium has also added 23 new fund managers and a further 88 model portfolios, for a total of 72 managers and 336 managed models. The company recorded gross asset inflows of $3 billion, an increase of 50 per cent on the previous financial year. Overall funds under […]
Bendigo Adelaide launches “all-in-app” digital bank
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has become the latest institution to launch a new pure play digital bank. Dubbed ‘Up’, the separately branded neo play will come in the form of a dedicated and separately branded app, as Bendigo attempts to snatch younger customers disillusioned with the offerings of the Big Four. Australia’s fifth largest retail institution claims the the new mobile-centric service, now in beta, will be Australia’s first fully licenced “all-in-app” mobile banking platform. It will come with native phone payment and mobile wallet functionality in what is essentially a plastic-free play. Global payments scheme mastercard has come along for the ride and gets to bolt its mobile debit […]
After CBA scandal, Australia’s regtech sector is ready for take-off
The local regtech scene is ready for take-off. There were two indications last week that regulatory technology’s engines are revving up. One was the corporate regulator securing an extra $6 million in funding from the federal government to market Australia as a global centre of regtech excellence. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman James Shipton is on board with the potential for new technology to help regulated entities meet their complex legal obligations. The second was the filing of a prospectus by a promising Sydney-based regtech start-up known as Identitii. Based in a terrace house in Potts Point, Identitii plans to list on the ASX in September, with the […]
Meet the brains behind Raiz Invest research and insights
Raiz Invest Limited, the mobile-first micro investing platform, improving financial confidence for over 164,000 Australians, is strategically using research and insights to continuously garner understanding and awareness of their customer needs, with the help of Dr. Jake An, Raiz Invest Research Phd and in conjunction with major Sydney Universities. Dr. Jake An applies his PhD theories to Raiz customers to improve the user experience and is now the brains behind the continuing research program of Raiz. His role is to merge his two passions, academia and research applying them to real world of financial literacy and behaviour. Working with Raiz since 2016, Jake identifies business problems and works directly with […]
Can Afterpay’s magic run continue?
As Elon Musk and Tesla have shown us, when dizzy valuations and high short interest collide, the results can be spectacular. If the Australian stock market has a battleground stock to rival Tesla it is the buy now, pay later juggernaut Afterpay, which has doubled to a market capitalisation of over $3 billion in just six weeks. In that time, the shorts have been decimated as Afterpay successfully kicked off its US adventure. As it stands, Afterpay which closed on Friday at $14.57 is now valued at 100 times forward earnings and at 50 times based on fiscal 2020 earnings forecasts. So is the run done? Not even close, if […]
How Fintech is making Insurance more affordable
Fintech is one of the most rapidly growing fields at the moment, not just in the technological sector but as a whole. And it makes a lot of sense when one considers the numerous implications it has in our everyday lives, especially when it comes to large-scale institutions’ operations and the way they are able to meet the demands of large numbers of people. Insurance companies are seeing some strong benefits from the growth of fintech and their connection to that industry, and it’s interesting to think about the future possibilities for the cheap insurance sector. Better Customer Segmentation Companies now have access to much more data about their customers, […]
Research reveals most Australians have accepted they are powerless to prevent cyberfraud
Most Aussies believe they will have their personal financial information stolen online, but many have accepted it as ‘normal’, a study revealed. Three quarters of Australians are worried they can’t protect their personal and financial information from cyberfraud, while 87 per cent now accept that data breaches and hacks are the new normal, new research has found. The Mastercard survey of 1010 Australian adults also revealed more than two-thirds of respondents did not feel in control of their online security. Mastercard spokesman Matt Barr said it was important people knew how to protect themselves. “When it comes to buying goods or services via social media, customers can take some small, […]
Here’s how innovation has transformed banking and lending
The effects of technology and the disruptions technology make, manifests itself in clearly perceivable ways. This is very evident in many sectors – in a short span (just eighteen months after its release) Google Maps had knocked out GPS navigation device makers and Amazon and Taobao (Alibaba) have disrupted how consumers shop for goods by moving them to online from offline (O2O). Enterprises are worried about being Uber-ed or Airbnb-ed as new age companies are challenging traditional ways of doing business. Banking and Lending space have also gone through an amazing level of rapid innovation and disruption starting at the turn on the new millennium. Traditional banking monoliths can no […]
