Stockspot founder Chris Brycki’s money is on robo-advice
Chris Brycki is the man behind Stockspot, one of Australia’s first companies to offer what has come to be known as “robo-advice”. Stockspot recently made headlines after Graham Tuckwell, the Australian tycoon behind London-based ETF Securities became an investor. Brycki first came to the market’s attention in 1999 when as a schoolboy he became one of the youngest winners of a stock competition. How does robo-advice actually work and how is it different to seeing a regular adviser? The most important thing when investing is getting your asset allocation right. Not so much picking stocks or when you should be getting in or out of the market. Working out what […]
How fintech will change the way business operates in Australia
Automated data management solutions such as AutoEntry are disrupting the Australian finance scene by simplifying accounts preparation for accountants and bookkeepers. Launched last year with over 25,000 businesses set up on the platform worldwide, AutoEntry captures and analyses scanned and photographed purchase and sales invoices, receipts, bank and card statements, automating data entry into accounting solutions such as Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB and Reckon. It helps users to access their financial records remotely, and upload paper documents such as bills invoices and receipts at their convenience via a mobile app. Its founder and CEO Brendan Woods offers his view on how the growing industry will shape the way business is conducted […]
Fintech players winning with disappointed advisers
Newer advice technology providers have defeated their more established competitors in securing the top spot for adviser platform satisfaction, despite industry-wide disappointment in current tech options. According to the latest Investment Trends Planner Technology Report, newer platforms are gaining momentum in the industry and threatening more established players. CFS FirstChoice and BT Wrap are the two most widely used platforms among planners however newer platforms such as Netwealth, HUB24 and BT Panorama are steadily extending their market share, the research showed. In the InvestmentLink research Netwealth and HUB24 both came in as the top platforms in terms of overall adviser satisfaction for this year. CFS FirstChoice came in second, BT […]
Peer-to-peer lending remains unfamiliar for borrowers and investors
IT’S one of the fastest-growing financial products in Australia but two-thirds of us still have no idea what peer-to-peer lending is. New research by Finder.com.au has found despite the sector growing from one to eight lenders since it launched in Australia in 2012, 65 per cent of consumers don’t know about it and women are less likely than men to understand and use it. Peer-to-peer providers such as SocietyOne, Direct Money and RateSetter are fintech companies that link investors with borrowers using online platforms, typically offering better interest rates than people get from the banks. “Generally P2P providers may have fewer funds to spend on marketing,” Finder spokeswoman Bessie Hassan […]
NSW spends $35m on 11-floor Sydney CBD startup hub
Up to 2500 entrepreneurs will get Sydney CBD desks at subsidised rents, under a $35 million NSW government plan for a 17,000 square metre start-up hub. Comprising levels 1 to 11 above Wynyard train station at 11-31 York Street, the hub’s four cornerstone tenants are all established co-working spaces that will relocate or expand from elsewhere in the city when the hub opens by early 2018 – Fishburners, Tankstream Labs, creative industries specialist The Studio, and fintech specialist Stone & Chalk. The NSW government will contribute $35 million over five years to fitouts and rent subsidies for the four, under a strategy worked out by Jobs For NSW, an agency […]
Aussie blockchain association launches
An association which aims to grow and support the local blockchain community has been launched, and hosts its first event this week. The Blockchain Association of Australia – registered as a not for profit incorporated association last month – meets for the first time at RMIT in Melbourne tonight. The association is led by Chami Akmeemana, director of blockchain software firm ConsenSys, with a board including Michael Hendricks from ME Bank and Paul Xuereb of AustralianSuper. Akmeemana was behind a regtech hackathon in Melbourne earlier this year. “The primary objective is to uplift the blockchain ecosystem and community and to address the critical skills gap in Australia with respect to […]
Cyber fraud a growing risk to Australia’s financial markets, report finds
Austrac, the federal government’s financial intelligence agency, says foreign crime syndicates are also manipulating markets and laundering money. Australia’s multibillion-dollar financial markets are vulnerable to an increasing risk of cyber-enabled fraud, a new report has found. Overseas-based crime syndicates are also exploiting Australia’s financial infrastructure to manipulate markets and launder money, the report by Austrac, the government’s financial intelligence agency, found. Austrac said the risk of criminal exploitation of the nation’s securities and derivatives sector was “at the high end of medium”. Austrac’s work relied on an analysis of 663 reports of suspicious activity from the corporate sector, made by 68 entities. About half the reports involved suspected fraud. Austrac […]
Bitcoin civil war heats up ahead of key software upgrade
It’s time for bitcoin traders to batten down the hatches. The notoriously volatile cryptocurrency, whose 160 per cent surge this year has captivated everyone from Wall Street bankers to Chinese grandmothers, could be headed for one of its most turbulent stretches yet. Blame the bitcoin civil war. After two years of largely behind-the-scenes bickering, rival factions of computer whizzes who play key roles in bitcoin’s upkeep are poised to adopt two competing software updates at the end of the month. That has raised the possibility that bitcoin will split in two, an unprecedented event that would send shockwaves through the $US41 billion ($53.8 billion) market. While both sides have big […]
