Afterpay surges as sales head for $1.5b
Lay-by payments service Afterpay Touch says its underlying annualised sales are on track to surpass $1.5 billion as more major brands sign up. The fintech’s first quarter sales hit $367 million, up from $271 million in the fourth quarter of 2016/17, and comes after Target, Luxottica and Petbarn recently adopted its online payments system. Shares in Afterpay jumped 48 cents, or 10.2 per cent, to $5.18 on the company’s quarterly sales update. Afterpay says more than 8,600 merchants are now on board, up from about 6,000 on June 30. And more brands are expected to join up in the second quarter. “Significant development of partnership and platform initiatives in the […]
Hashkloud Australia’s Blockchain integrated PaySHA digital payments platform goes LIVE
PaySHA promises cashless and cardless digital payments that uses Blockchain & QR code technologies to deliver real time payment solutions for the customers Hashkloud Pty Ltd (HKAU), a Blockchain focused Fintech company based in Sydney, Australia announced that United Commercial Bank Ltd (UCB), a full service commercial bank based in Dhaka, Bangladesh have launched Upay, a digital payments platform on Oct 17th, 2017. Upay is based on HKAU’s PaySHA Digital Payments Platform, a universal digital payments platform that uses Blockchain technology where transactional data during payments processing are cryptographically hashed and verified using Blockchain. PaySHA supports a cashless and cardless digital wallet that uses QR (Quick Response) code to deliver […]
Ethereum Founder: Central Banks far from Digital Currency
Vitalik Buterin, the 23-year-old creator of the world’s second biggest digital currency, Ethereum, isn’t worried about coming competition from the central banks of the world. Speaking in Toronto on Tuesday, Buterin downplayed the possibility of countries creating digital versions of their currencies that could rival or displace bitcoin or Ethereum. He said the advent of a national currency based on a blockchain, which is the distributed ledger technology that underpins bitcoin and Ethereum, will take years to launch. “If there is [such a launch] it will be a server and a bunch of marketing buzzwords to make it look like a blockchain,” Buterin said, suggesting central banks lack the ability […]
IBM develops blockchain system for banks
The company expects to process up to 60% of all cross-border payments in the South Pacific by early 2018. International technology company IBM has joined forces with blockchain startup Stellar and payments company KlickEx Group to enable high-speed cross-border payments for banks and other financial institutions. The aim of the payments process is to speed up clearances and settlements on a single network in real time. Blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin, is a revolutionary distributed-ledger technology that offers a secure and immediate way of transferring a range of data – more specifically, in this case, currency transactions. IBM’s solution is already active, processing live transactions across 12 different currency corridors […]
MyDeal partners with Prospa on new business loans service
Online retail marketplace MyDeal.com.au has launched a business loans service in partnership with fintech lender Prospa, offering unsecured loans which it claims will accelerate the growth of retailers. According to MyDeal Marketplace, retailers who list their products through it can now apply for a business loan of up to $250,000 directly through their supplier management system and “in many cases receive the funding in under 24 hours”. MyDeal.com.au chief executive Sean Senvirtne says MyDeal Marketplace loans are designed to assist with a variety of common scenarios which small businesses face including expansion costs and the need to access rapid funding to secure an opportunity. Senvirtne says the decision to diversify […]
Robo-advisers to expand into retirement advice
While automated advice providers currently cater for a lot of basic SMSF advice needs, one provider believes retirement adequacy will be the next frontier for automated advice. ASAP chief executive Jim Hennington said he expects the scope of advice that’s provided by automated advice providers to SMSFs will further expand over the next year. “At the moment, [it’s] very much focused on the transactions that accountants tend to get deeply involved with such as establishing an SMSF, purchasing property and LRBAs, and setting up SMSF pensions,” said Mr Hennington. He expects that automated advice will soon expand beyond this, however, into services such as retirement advice. “Over time automated advice […]
Praemium expands SMA model options
Platform provider Praemium has added 16 new multi-asset model portfolios to its separately managed account offering, expanding the investment options available to users. The listed fintech company announced today that it has struck deals with a number of investment managers, including the introduction of eight new models from Shaw and Partners, four from Joseph Palmer & Sons, three from State Street and one from Evans and Partners. An additional 27 managed funds and 14 exchanged-traded products have also been added to the SMA, bringing the total number of managed funds available to 301. “The addition of these new models and managed funds to the Praemium SMA is part of our […]
Are fintech companies changing the industry for the better?
FinTech is most commonly known as the abbreviation for the term “financial technology” and the name given to an emerging and rapidly growing financial services sector. Financial technology is often used to describe any technological innovations within the financial industry, ranging from banking and investments, all the way through to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. With new technologies come new businesses, and so financial technology companies were born. The question is, however, whether these businesses and the technologies on offer through them are changing the industry for the better, or are they simply a disruption to an already functioning economy? How are fintech companies changing the financial industry? One of the […]
