Australian fintech and cyber companies explore global opportunities
The programme will bring together the UK and Australian fintech and cyber ecosystems to share best practice, knowledge and encourage long lasting connections and partnerships between the UK and Australia. The UK Department for International Trade (DIT) is supporting the Australian British Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Australian British Fintech Cyber Catalyst (ABFCC) which takes place in London in early July 2018. A 60 strong delegation of Australian fintech and cyber businesses, along with technology experts, financiers, government representatives and innovators, will journey to the UK. The programme will bring together the UK and Australian fintech and cyber ecosystems to share best practice, knowledge and encourage long lasting connections and partnerships between […]
Piper Alderman to help shape Australia’s blockchain future
Piper Alderman is doubling down on opportunities brought about by blockchain technology. The firm has partnered with Australian technology innovator, Lakeba Group, to tackle the adoption and commercialisation of blockchain technology both in Australia and around the world. Under the partnership, Lakeba will work with the national firm’s lawyers to handle the legal implications of implementing blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions for clients and prospects. Lakeba is one of the first Australian companies to have live commercial blockchain pilots in a range of sectors. The alliance will not only facilitate reciprocal introductions, but ultimately boost the Australian market’s reputation in innovation, Piper Alderman said. “Lakeba is one of the first to […]
Australia’s mobile wallet Beem It eschews new fast-payments platform in favor of debit rails
Beem It, a startup owned by three of Australia’s largest banks, has launched a free real-time social payments app designed to run on older debit networks instead of the country’s new faster payments platform. Market research commissioned by Beem It indicates that, because of unpaid small debts between friends, Australia’s national unpaid “mate” debt is worth A$6.2 billion. To get around the embarrassment of asking a friend for repayment, Beem It offers the ability to request money through an app. Rather than use the New Payments Platform (NPP), Australia’s faster payments system, Beem It links to users’ debit cards as a means of achieving scale. “There are about 43 million […]
Australian fintech & invoice marketplace Timelio announces $250 million milestone
Timelio, an Australia-based online marketplace for invoice and supply chain finance, announced on Tuesday it has surpassed $250 million in invoice funding. Founded in 2014, the fintech firm stated its purpose is to improve the financial well-being of business owners by improving cash flow for businesses and enabling them to get paid immediately without waiting up to 90 days for customers to pay. While sharing details about the company’s latest milestone, CEO and founder of Timelio, Charlotte Petris, stated that the milestone is confirmation Australian businesses have been looking for funding outside of the traditional finance providers to help them reach their growth ambitions. “Without exception, each one of our […]
Westpac ends Prospa deal as banks plan more unsecured SME lending
Westpac Banking Corp has ended its referral relationship with Prospa, a sign major banks are preparing to ramp up unsecured small business lending to try to regain some of the market that has been surrendered to start-ups. After Prospa indefinitely postponed its ASX listing last week amid questions on whether its loan contracts breached new laws, the online business lender faces more intense competition from big banks who are developing new products to lend more to small business without requiring residential property to be pledged as security. “We did not continue our contract with Prospa because we are working on developing our own products that will satisfy more of our […]
Credit report delay shows fintech social risk concerns
Nothing is more valuable to a fintech start-up than data. And some of the best quality data for pricing financial services are the historical records of customer debt repayments. When run through algorithms, these can indicate how likely a prospective borrower is to repay a loan in the future, which helps with assessing risk and pricing. Fintechs are right on the cusp of getting access to this “repayment history information” (RHI), through the government’s new “comprehensive credit reporting” (CCR) regime. The policy is due to come into force in just over a fortnight, and would require banks to attach RHI to customer reports provided to credit bureaus. So the last-minute […]
Burgeoning innovation culture an opportunity for investors: Equitise
Australia may lag behind Silicon Valley when it comes to start-up culture, but the growing space is presenting increasing opportunities, an equity crowdfunding company has said. Chris Gilbert, managing director and co-founder of Equitise, which facilitates investment in start-ups and businesses, told Nest Egg that while Australia isn’t quite at the level of Israel, the UK or the US when it comes to innovation, Australia’s “evolving” landscape supplies opportunities. Responding to questioning around whether Australia lacked a strong business mindset, as Bernard Salt has previously opined, Mr Gilbert said, “I think that it definitely is true to a certain extent. “It was far more true when I was getting in […]
Ombudsman calls for greater clarity on fintech loan terms
Speaking to Mortgage Business, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO), Kate Carnell, stated her concern that fintechs, including Prospa, are making their interest rates “really hard to understand”. The small business lender, which postponed its public listing this week, reportedly has an average annual interest rate north of 40 per cent. However, while Ms Carnell did not suggest the interest rate was inappropriate, she did question the transparency around the actual rate itself. “If somebody wants to pay a 40 per cent [annual percentage rate], that’s absolutely fine,” Ms Carnell told Mortgage Business. “For particular sorts of loans that could have high levels of risk, that’s an […]
