Fear and loathing from Silicon Valley
By Jacqui Henderson, Founder & CEO – Advice Intelligence An all-pervasive feature of modern life is the speed of technological change, and of our collective capacity to adapt to the multiple impacts of change. It is natural to question the benefits: does the constant challenge to keep up and adapt simplify my life or make it ever more complex? Would a fully-automated advice capability drive better service standards and outcomes for my advice business and my clients, or does it simply make my job redundant? Is all the talk of technological revolution that ricochets around the world out of Silicon Valley, the advent of artificial intelligence and robotics, and the […]
Xero signs on 100 Australian financial institutions and bolsters team
Xero, the global leader in cloud accounting software, today announced it has recently signed agreements with 100 Australian financial institutions for direct bank relationships, a major milestone in opening up banking, lending, and growth opportunities to Australian small businesses. Xero’s growing Financial Web now includes the ability to connect to 95 per cent of all transaction accounts that our small business customers access every day, making it easier than ever for Australian small businesses and their advisors to connect their accounting dashboard directly to almost any bank or financial services provider in the country. That includes everything from a Big 4 Bank to a regional credit union, helping small businesses […]
zipMoney secures $40M strategic investment and relationship with Westpac
zipMoney Limited (ASX: ZML) is pleased to announce that it has secured a $40 million strategic investment in the Company from Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC) by way of a private share placement. Westpac and Zip have also entered a strategic relationship which allows the parties to explore the integration of Zip’s products and services across Westpac’s network throughout Australia. As part of the strategic relationship, the parties will explore other initiatives including the provision of currently in-development business-to-business products and services to Westpac. The WBC strategic investment will be by way of a $40 million ordinary equity investment comprising the subscription of 49,382,716 fully paid ordinary zipMoney shares at […]
Asia’s leading Fintech Accelerator in Australia
Supercharger is Asia’s leading no equity Fintech Accelerator with programs in HK & Malaysia. They are currently looking for the best FinTech companies that are interested in expanding or scaling in the Asian market. To give you a sense, companies of a previous cohort have closed 12 contracts, raised USD700,000, and generated another 28 business leads within 12 weeks. Please feel free to explore the program on Supercharger website. They’re looking forward to your application which can be lodged here by 18th August 2017 and as for their track record, you can check it out here. The Fintech Accelerator have prepared some key answers that may help your team to review your scale of success in […]
YTML: ASIC’s example SoA ‘not balanced’
Customer take up of life insurance advice could be adversely effected if Statements of Advice (SoA) for life insurance do not take a more balanced approach to the information they communicate. This is the feedback YTML General Manager Advice Delivery, Terri Ho submitted to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on the example SOA provided in Consultation Paper CP 284, which YTML say does not prioritise the information consumers are most looking for, the advice. ‘We believe the disclosure of commissions is over played in its current position in the SOA. This represents too much focus on remuneration.’ Further: ‘One of our key suggested improvements is to change the positioning of the […]
Sydney at the centre of booming Australian Fintech industry
Sydney is home to over half of Australia’s Fintech companies and is helping to drive unprecedented growth in the industry, according to a new report by the Committee for Sydney and KPMG. The report, Scaling the Fintech Opportunity: For Sydney and Australia, finds that the number of Fintech start-ups in Australia has increased from less than 100 in 2014 to 579 companies today, with around 60% of all Fintech companies basing themselves in Sydney. It will be launched at a special event at 7pm this evening by NSW Minister for Trade and Industry, the Hon. Niall Blair. Fintech is by-and-large driven by local companies, with 512 Australian and […]
IRESS launches XPLAN iAssist
IRESS has launched XPLAN iAssist to further strengthen support available to XPLAN users. XPLAN iAssist will allow users to grant an IRESS support team member temporary and secure access to their individual XPLAN session within a few seconds. Users needing the service will be able to securely-generate a unique token within XPLAN, which won’t require the exchange of any username and password details. IRESS product executive, Emily Chen, said iAssist allows IRESS to rapidly respond in real-time in a transparent, secure and efficient way, without the limitations and frustrations of screen-sharing software installations. “iAssist balances our desire to further improve user experience, help clients and users continue to increase business […]
Finder Awards 2017 open for entry
Now in its second year, the finder Awards are designed to celebrate the best innovations in Australia and recognise excellence, creativity and impact in a range of industries from finance to technology, retail and travel. There are seven categories open for submission, with Best Personal Finance App and Best Online Customer Service back by popular demand. These categories focus on innovations businesses have implemented in the last financial year. The finder Awards 2017 innovation categories are: Best Online Shopping Innovation Best Banking Innovation Best Travel Innovation Best Tech Innovation Best Personal Finance App Best Online Customer Service Most Innovative Team/Person To enter, please visit https://www.finder.com.au/finderawards. Entries close Friday 18 August, […]
