Don’t write off bitcoin yet, despite blow to Winklevoss plan
It seems that bitcoin’s prophets of doom celebrated prematurely after the US Securities and Exchange Commission comprehensively knocked back the Winklevoss brothers’ bid to create an exchange-traded fund tied to the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency. The obituaries written over the weekend made much of Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’s feud with Mark Zuckerberg over founder’s rights to Facebook, the world’s most popular social networking website. “They lost on Facebook; now they’ve lost on bitcoin,” the twins’ updated narrative said. Not so fast. Sure, the bitcoin price collapsed by 18 per cent after it had motored past the price for an ounce of gold in the week preceding the SEC’s […]
DomaCom signs off on new crowdfunding deal
DomaCom has finalised its first venture into agricultural assets with a deal that gives 90 retail investors a stake in a property in Victoria’s prime Western District pastoral land. The 150-hectare property, ‘Doyles’, outside Casterton near the South Australian border, is in the heart of prime beef and sheep region. Prior to entering into a contract to purchase the property, the fund was successful in securing a strong local operator as the tenant. The tenant will use the property to run beef cattle. “The identification of good operators to work with in the leasing of the property was key to the transaction. We are striving to deliver a packaged opportunity […]
Australia’s $2.2 trillion super pot drives record ETF demand
Australia’s $2.2 trillion superannuation savings pot is fuelling record demand for exchange traded funds. The number of self-managed super funds holding such investments surged to a record 100,000 in September, according to a report from BetaShares Capital and Investment Trends. SMSFs worth $635 billion are stoking hunger for income-producing assets and drove a 31 per cent surge in the number of Aussie investors who used exchange traded funds last year. Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are a type of investment that can be bought and sold like shares, tracking assets such as commodities, currencies, bonds or market indices such as the S&P/ASX 200 up and down. The interest in those funds […]
Banks need to contend with YOLO and FOMO for market share
The attitudes and expectations of Millennials are shaping up as a key hurdle for banks, as younger customers experiment with new financial service providers and defer major investment decisions such as property purchases. Consultants at KPMG say the results mean that banks will have to learn the meaning of YOLO (you only live once) and the importance of FOMO (fear of missing out) in order to adapt their strategies and capture this valuable demographic. The findings are contained in the consultant’s third annual survey of the banking habits of Generation Y titled “Banking on the Future” which surveyed 1400 professionals aged between 18 and 30 years old. In what amounts […]
ATM use hits 15-year-low as shift to cashless society gathers momentum
ATM withdrawals have slumped to their lowest levels in 15 years and the number of Australians taking cash out during debit card transactions is falling at the fastest annual rate on record. The new figures provide an insight into the wider shift towards a cashless economy, as electronic payments such as Paypass transform habits and consumers shy away from ATM withdrawal fees and bricks-and-mortar branches. According to Reserve Bank of Australia figures released on Monday, the number of ATM withdrawals in January fell by 7.7 per cent compared to last year. The total value was down by 3.9 per cent. It follows two consecutive years of ATM withdrawals falling by […]
Westpac’s Reinventure hires new partner to help fintech startups crack the US
Westpac’s $100 million venture capital fund Reinventure has hired a new partner with experience from Wall Street and Silicon Valley, seeking to help local fintech start-ups attack the world stage and catch the eye of potential US suitors. US-born Kara Frederick, a former Goldman Sachs executive, was a senior adviser at US-based boutique investment bank GrowthPoint Technology Partners and also founded middle-market advisory firm Tiger Financial Group. She joins Reinventure founders and managing partners Simon Cant and Danny Gilligan as the firm’s first general partner. The fund was set up by the giant bank in 2014 to invest in fintech start-ups that could potentially compete with its own businesses. “Australia […]
SETL wants to settle and clear equities in competition with ASX
The ASX is facing competition for clearing and settling equities, with blockchain start-up SETL pledging to build a post-trading system cheaper and to deploy it quicker than the replacement for the existing CHESS infrastructure, which is being developed by the ASX itself and US group Digital Asset Holdings. London-based SETL is raising capital from some Australian brokers and has retained local lawyers to prepare regulatory applications to approve its system. The move comes as the federal government considers whether to remove the ASX’s monopoly over equities settlement and clearing – the vital “pipes” that underpin the operation of Australia’s equity markets – later this year, if regulators can devise a […]
Super fund Spaceship accused of high risk and not enough returns
A start-up super fund that is aggressively targeting millennials via social media has investment advisers alarmed that it is more expensive than most super funds and is taking significant risk without promising higher returns. But Spaceship, which has the backing of venture capital and tech luminaries such as Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, says strict rules mean it can’t gamble customers’ super, while the fees are a small price to pay for the superior returns that will come from investing in technology. The super fund says it expects to kick off with $100 million of funds under management from young Australians when it launches later this month, after “early adopters” moved […]
