Australia’s banks don’t fear FinTech threat
Australia’s major financial services providers are not worried about the threat posed by emerging financial technology (FinTech) players and believe FinTech will be positive for the industry overall. A survey of financial marketers conducted by Yell Creative found that 98% of marketers believe FinTech is a positive and just 32% think it is a threat. Yell managing director Nigel Roberts said the company predicts that Australian FinTechs will eventually be swallowed up by the larger, more established companies. “While there is a thriving FinTech community in Australia, we feel their impact will likely be more limited than in other global markets,” he said. “Australia has one of the strongest established […]
How ASIC and the Australian government can kindle the fintech boom
Australia is beginning to enjoy the benefits of a fintech boom, but for this emerging industry to grow properly it needs infrastructure support. Without it, we’re at risk of seeing Aussie fintechs left behind as overseas players dominate the Australian and Asian landscape. There have been some welcome initiatives recently, like ASIC introducing a regulatory sandbox for start-ups to trial new ideas. But compared to other governments around the world, Australia doesn’t have the political support to turn this industry into a powerhouse. That’s a huge missed opportunity. Research from Frost & Sullivan predicts the Australian fintech market will add $1 billion in value by 2020. Missing out on this […]
Apple Pay coming to millions in Australia with Cuscal signing credit union deal
Up to 4 million Australians can soon start using Apple Pay following a deal between Apple and a body representing smaller banks and credit unions. Customers with debit and credit accounts held with 31 financial bodies will be able to use Apple Pay to make retail payments from their iPhone following a deal with payments provider Cuscal. A Cuscal spokesman said a starting date for the service was yet to be announced. The agreement does not include many of Cuscal’s industry partners and a number of credit unions but it does include 31 credit unions and banks. The list includes Credit Union Australia, Bank of Sydney, Horizon Credit Union, Police […]
Stone & Chalk says the new paradigm is outside-in innovation
It should come as no surprise that Alex Scandurra, chief executive officer Stone & Chalk, is a passionate advocate of collaboration: the raison d’être, justification, objective and mission statement of Stone & Chalk is to help foster and accelerate the development of world-leading fintech start-ups, by leveraging greater collaboration between stakeholders in the fintech eco-system. Stone & Chalk itself is a collaborative effort between fintech entrepreneurs, venture capital (VC) firms, companies, academia and government, to incubate and nurture financial services-focused tech start-ups in ways not seen in Australia before. “Collaboration is at the core of what we do, and it’s one of the main reasons why we’ve been able to […]
iSelect trials three-hour digital home loan
ASX-listed iSelect is trialling a new digital home loan process that lets home buyers get conditional approval for a home loan in three hours from multiple lenders, without needing to visit a bank or fill out paperwork. The technology is the first in Australia that digitises the home loan application process and can present offers from multiple lenders, however many of the banks offer a digital service for their own loans. Macquarie Bank, ING and Australian Finance Group are trialling iSelect’s new service, but the business has plans to do a full rollout in 2017. The new service is part of iSelect’s transition to become a “life admin” business, and […]
New tech solution for advisers
Fintech firm, Your Technology Made Lite (YTML), is integrating its Highlighter platform technology for advisers’ in-house Excel solutions to boost accessibility and integration with online systems. YTML chief executive, Kevin Liao, said that Highlighter had already been used for advice web apps and automated with an adviser’s existing IP. “Highlighter automates the development of a web app,” he said. “As long as advisers have the flow of data entry organised… we can configure and upload it into Highlighter and convert it into a web app for them. “Advisers, accountants and SMSF [self-managed superannuation fund] specialists have so much capability sitting within their practices, and by partnering with technology solutions such […]
Afterpay and zipMoney: New instalment of old idea gains momentum
Fellow veterans of the “brown paper and string” era may recall lay-by, the instalment schemes offered by retailers before those plastic works of the devil called bank cards came along. At the risk of going all Bernard Salt on readers, the smashed avocado generation would be aghast to learn that customers of yore were required to put down a deposit on the item, but did not receive the goods until they paid the agreed instalments. What’s old is new again, and now lay-by is being reverse-engineered in the guise of point-of-sale retail intermediaries that finance “no-interest” payment instalment schemes. The key difference is they are “buy now, pay later” schemes […]
Banks, Apple fight to entrench their dominance in customers’ lives
In one corner is the largest company in the world, Apple. In the other sit three of Australia’s all-powerful banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank, and the country’s fifth biggest lender Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. These corporations have more than $1 trillion in market value between them, and they’re fighting over access to the ubiquitous device that has made Apple such a superpower: the iPhone. As well as being used by millions every day for phone calls, social media and internet access, the smart phone is tipped to play a critical role in how we spend money. This prospect has unleashed a full-scale business brawl, as Apple and the […]
