The changing landscape of crowdfunding in Australia
When Aussie start-up, Nura, wanted to raise funds to help launch its hi-tech, self-adjusting headphones onto the global market, it turned to crowd-funding platform Kickstarter. The groundbreaking Nuraphones attracted the support of over 7,000 ‘backers’ who pledged money in return for early access to the product, netting Nura over US$1.8 million and breaking records for an Australian crowd-funding campaign. Recent decisions by the Australian Government to expand the use of crowd-funding for equity raising, initially by public companies and now potentially by SMEs and start-ups, could make a huge difference for companies seeking capital for growth and expansion. The first round of legislation came into force last month, allowing licensed […]
Biggest winners from fintech are customers
The biggest winners from fintech are the customers as it revolutionalises customer engagement and removes institutional, bureaucratic impediments, according to Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison. Addressing the Financial Services Council’s (FSC’s) and BT’s breakfast event in Sydney on Monday, the Treasurer said fintech was not just transformational for financial services but for all businesses around the country. “The technology is exciting. It can be distracting, it can sometimes over promise and under deliver. But at the same time it’s hard not to appreciate the potential,” he said. “And like any new sector where innovation arrives, there are misfires, there are misstarts. But it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the […]
Data revolution to transform four pillars model
You’re browsing through Facebook when a message pops up, asking if you’d like to check whether you’re getting a decent interest rate on your savings. Curious, you tap the screen to find out more. It asks you to provide a bit more information about your financial goals – you’re saving for a deposit on a house and hope to buy in about two years. You are then asked to give consent to securely share some key bits of financial information online: your income over the last six months, and your spending over this period. Within seconds, the app has a recommendation: it’s found a bank account and term deposit that […]
Treasurer rules out further super changes
Future reforms to superannuation appear to be off the table, as the Treasurer sets his eyes on the fintech scene. Speaking at the FSC BT Political Series, Treasurer Scott Morrison said revisiting changes to superannuation was not the way he preferred to “do business”. “I hope people will pick up one thing from the way I like to do business,” said Mr Morrison. “Once I go into a particular area and seek to make change, I seek to do it once and for all. I tend not to go and revisit it. “We made some major changes to superannuation, I’ve made some major changes in previous portfolios on pensions, made […]
Cards are going to go away, says Citigroup CEO Mike Corbat
It’s a testament to his pragmatism, but Michael Corbat, the chief executive of Citigroup, the world’s biggest issuer of credit cards, is quite happy to concede that the popular financial product is doomed to extinction. “We know, at some point, cards are going to go away”, Corbat says in an exclusive interview with The Australian Financial Review, “and it’s just going to be digital wallet, digital payments.” This is why Citi is putting a major emphasis on “fintech” – from cutting-edge banking apps for mobile phones through to blockchain, artificial intelligence and robotics, to forging partnership with big players such as Alipay, Amazon and WeChat – to make sure that […]
GROW Super reduces its fees
The move comes just three weeks after rival super fund Spaceship dropped its fees. New super fund GROW Super has today announced it’s lowering its fees and introducing new features to the way its members can select their insurance cover. Since launching in May, the new fund which has been initially targeting Australian millennials has successfully attracted over 12,000 members. Until now the boutique fund has charged a fee of 1.85% p.a. on your investment; quite high compared to many other funds, and especially for a new player. From today GROW Super will charge a much more competitive fee of 0.95% plus $1.65 per week. The move comes just three […]
GPS robo-adviser launches
Plenty Wealth, a robo-adviser that combines human advice has officially launched. Co-founders Josh Golombick and Greg Einfeld said Plenty Wealth provides a financial roadmap and acts like a “GPS service” in terms of financial goals, covering automated advice from budgeting and cash flows, to insurance, property and investments. One of the biggest advantages of an algorithm is that the results are transparent and cannot be swayed by human bias and conflicts, said Einfeld, who helped develop the algorithms based on his 20 years of working in the superannuation and wealth management industries. “What’s more, they allow us to produce quality advice on demand and bring the cost down to nothing,” […]
Moroku shortlisted for Banking Technology Awards – Top Digital Innovation
Now in their 18th year, the Banking Technology Awards have become established as the premier event recognising excellence, innovation and the use of IT in banking and financial services. The shortlisted companies for this year have just been announced with Moroku recognised for it’s collaboration with Finastra for Top Digital Innovation 2017. This recognises Moroku as one of the world’s top fintechs, separating the company from thousands of companies around the world trying to figure out what is next, highlighting not only the power of the firm’s innovation, but also it’s capacity to scale through distribution. https://awards.bankingtech.com/categoriespt/judged-awards/ This win comes off the back of Finastra , the world’s 3rd largest […]
