Ignore bitcoin at your peril, naysayers warned
It’s taken three weeks for bitcoin to erase the losses it suffered when JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon dismissed the digital currency as a fraud.
Yield-hungry investors switch their cash to peer-to-peer lenders
Peer-to-peer lender, RateSetter, says 56 per cent of money invested with it is from savers withdrawing their money from their bank savings accounts. Yield-hungry investors are understandably frustrated with earning next-to-nothing on their cash held at their banks, with interest rates at historic lows and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future. With the the advent of peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders, online platforms that match investors and borrowers, investors can get up to three times the interest paid by term deposits. P2P lenders charge borrowers lower rates of interest than they would pay on bank loans, while lender-investors earn higher interest than they could get with a bank term […]
Alternative Finance: Australia becoming regional leader
Australia’s alternative finance market has grown by 53% over 12 months according to a report released by KPMG, becoming the second largest in the Asia-Pacific region. The report revealed Australia’s alternative finance market increased from US$27 million in 2015 to US$610 million in 2016 as Aussies turn to peer-to-peer lending (P2P), balance sheet business lending and crowdfunding. In the US$245.28 billion Asia-Pacific alternative finance market, China was found to be the leader, accounting for 99.2% and representing 85% of the total global market. P2P consumer lending was Australia’s second most popular alternative finance model behind balance sheet business lending, increasing from US$43 million in 2015 to over US$158 million in […]
Australia’s Alternative Finance Future goes from strength to strength
Australia is emerging as a regional leader in the $300bn global Alt-Fi market. Alternative finance (or Alt-Fi) is a catch-all phrase used to describe emerging, digital financial services models such as peer-to-peer and marketplace lending (business and consumer finance), crowdfunding and invoice lending. However, for Australia to stay ahead greater consumer and business awareness is needed as well as policy and regulatory settings that continue to evolve with the development of this nascent sector. Globally this market is expanding quickly, up 100 percent year-on-year, with China the dominant world market (in terms of absolute volume), accounting for 85 percent of the total market. A staggering US$243.28 billion was raised through […]
No reason why Australia should not be a global leader in the fintech sector
by Scott Morrison MP, Federal Treasurer Digital disruption in financial services is changing the world. The opportunities that spring from this disruption, in a region with an Asian middle class increasingly empowered by choice, are there for our taking. Recently I travelled to Beijing to lead our representation at the Strategic Economic Dialogue with the Chinese government, and meet with major Chinese firms who are investing in Australia. Among the encouraging signs of China’s pursuit of sustainable economic growth, the prudency in which it is addressing debt and its continued openness to trade and investment, is the pace of digital change within their economy. While Silicon Valley, London or Singapore […]
One-month P2P investments popular with Millennials and Gen X
Data has revealed Millennial and Gen X peer-to-peer lending investors utilise the one-month market more than any other. Analysis of the $150 million invested in peer-to-peer lending (P2P) platform RateSetter since its 2014 launch shows over 70% of Millennial and Gen X investors on the platform have invested in the one-month market. For the one-year market, this figure was only 40% for Millennial investors and 42% for Gen X investors. CEO of RateSetter Daniel Foggo said the one-month market provides a “stable, attractive return of around 4% p.a.” with ready access to money. “Far from wasting money on avocado toast, these young investors are seizing the opportunity to make their […]
The future of FinTech
In case you haven’t noticed, FinTechs (short for financial technology) are moving in fast on the traditional financial services world – or at least they’re trying to. You’ve already been swept up in the FinTech revolution if you use a bank app or contactless credit card chip, pay in Bitcoin, transact with PayPal or take part in crowdfunding or peer-to-peer (P2P) lending. The FinTech movement The idea behind FinTechs is to cut out the middlemen, streamline the process, and give customers a better experience than what’s traditionally been on offer from the banks, which, among other shortcomings, can still take a few days to process a simple electronic deposit. The […]
PledgeMe joins Equitise in eyeing Australian market
PledgeMe, the equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platform, has joined rival Equitise in signalling plans to enter the Australian market ahead of a law change coming into effect across the Tasman this month. Co-founder Anna Guenther will relocate to Brisbane for six months to establish the Wellington-based company’s Australian arm, according to a PledgeMe blog post. PledgeMe will participate in the Queensland government’s HotDesQ programme, which provides networks, support, and funding for companies to relocate to the state. “There are over 2.1 million SME’s in Australia (compared to just under 500,000 here in New Zealand), so the opportunity is pretty clear,” she says. The Australian Corporations Amendment (Crowd-sourced Funding) Act […]
