Westpac’s Reinventure buys tech start-up Doshii
The Westpac-backed venture fund Reinventure has splashed its cash on Melbourne-based payments platform start-up Doshii, a spin-off of Australian point-of-sale vendor Impos. Westpac is the largest investor in Reinventure, which recently launched a second $50 million fund to invest in about a dozen Australian technology ventures. It comes amid a broader trend of Australia’s biggest banks investing in fintech companies aiming to disrupt the payments market, which has so far produced mixed results for the incumbent financial giants. Doshii is the country’s only application programming interface company, and gives app developers a common platform that works with hundreds of point-of-sale systems. Its aim is to overcome a problem in the […]
Scott Morrison backs robo-advisers to cheap superannuation advice to retirees
Treasurer Scott Morrison has endorsed “robo-advisers” offering cheap automated superannuation advice as the next step in Australia’s financial industry, and urged consumers to overcome their privacy fears about business and governments sharing personal data. As the Turnbull government continues to battle controversy over Centrelink’s “robo-debt” letters, Mr Morrison has been spruiking to his international counterparts the commercial and economic opportunities of automated services and sharing consumers’ data. “One of the prime examples is robo-advice, which has the potential to offer financial advice to a wider cross‑section of the community,” Mr Morrison told at a G20 conference in Germany. “In Australia, businesses are beginning to integrate robo-advice into the retirement savings […]
IBM, Optus and Australia Post join blockchain group
IBM, Optus and Australia Post have joined the Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association (ADCCA).
Scott Morrison to tell global finance leaders Australia backs fintech
The federal government wants to see the fintech sector “grow big, to thrive and deliver benefits for consumers and the economy”, Treasurer Scott Morrison will tell global central bank governors and finance ministers on Wednesday. In a speech to a high-level G20 conference in Wiesbaden, Germany, Mr Morrison will say fintech can boost banking competition and facilitate access to new forms of finance. He will also tell leaders of the global economy that Australia is “strongly pursuing” blockchain technology, and wants to unlock the “enormous untapped potential of Australia’s data”. After the Productivity Commission in November called for consumers to receive a “comprehensive right” to their data, which would allow […]
New payments platform could create army of fintech innovation, says NPP boss
The man overseeing the rollout of Australia’s new payments system says every business across the economy that makes or receives payments could become a fintech innovator by developing “overlay” services to enhance customers’ experiences. Construction of the “new payments platform” (NPP), which from October will allow money and data to move between bank accounts instantaneously, has been driven by the Reserve Bank of Australia for the past four years after an earlier bank-driven idea for a similar system collapsed. The core philosophy of the NPP is the separation of the infrastructure – which provides a messaging, addressing and settlement system – from a layer for new products that will be […]
Global Fintech OFX hires Shears as CMO
OFX, formerly known as OzForex, has appointed Rebecca Shears as chief marketing officer. Shears joined the global payments business in August last year, and has been instrumental in directing the international rebranding of six regional brands to one streamlined global entity. OFX facilitates international currency transfers for consumers and payments for businesses. Using a proprietary interbank system, the Fintech is able to beat standard bank rates on international currency transfers by up to 75 per cent. Shears has over 20 years of experience in marketing roles, executed across the UK and Australian markets. She started her career at Unilever and has since held positions at British Telecom, Telstra and T-Mobile. […]
Scott Morrison’s UK fintech mission
Treasurer Scott Morrison will receive firsthand briefings on Britain’s pioneering move to open up access to bank data ahead of what is likely to be a similar shake-up here. Mr Morrison is visiting London and will meet with fintech entrepreneurs, academics and regulators to learn more about how start-ups are disrupting established financial services players like banks. “The UK has recently introduced changes for major banks to provide customers with greater access to data held about them, and requiring data to be made available to third parties through an API [application programming interface],” Mr Morrison said. “Developments in the UK can supplement the outcomes of an inquiry into data availability […]
Here’s how banks can save big with blockchain
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, investment banks faced rising regulatory burdens, rising compliance costs, and a consequent shrinking of innovation budgets. However, in Q4 these banks reported large profits, suggesting that they are finally on the path to recovery; we have also seen major players renew their focus on digital transformation. Now, a new report by consultancy Accenture and benchmarking firm McLagan suggests an area particularly deserving of incumbents’ attention. The study, using data for eight of the world’s largest investment banks, looked into the potential benefits that blockchain adoption might deliver. It found that blockchain could save these banks $8 billion to $12 billion annually and […]
