Cards are going to go away, says Citigroup CEO Mike Corbat
It’s a testament to his pragmatism, but Michael Corbat, the chief executive of Citigroup, the world’s biggest issuer of credit cards, is quite happy to concede that the popular financial product is doomed to extinction. “We know, at some point, cards are going to go away”, Corbat says in an exclusive interview with The Australian Financial Review, “and it’s just going to be digital wallet, digital payments.” This is why Citi is putting a major emphasis on “fintech” – from cutting-edge banking apps for mobile phones through to blockchain, artificial intelligence and robotics, to forging partnership with big players such as Alipay, Amazon and WeChat – to make sure that […]
SocietyOne takes leadership role on comprehensive credit reporting
SocietyOne, Australia’s pioneering and leading consumer finance marketplace lender, announced that it will provide positive consumer credit information to credit bureaus as part of the move to establish a fully-fledged comprehensive credit reporting (CCR) regime in Australia. SocietyOne will start sending secure data on its customers’ positive credit history in “public” mode from November 2017. With the Federal Government planning to toughen up the country’s existing CCR legislation in 2018, SocietyOne has thrown down the challenge to the major banks to quickly get on board with CCR and help all Australians get a better deal from their credit providers. Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank recently announced that […]
GROW Super reduces its fees
The move comes just three weeks after rival super fund Spaceship dropped its fees. New super fund GROW Super has today announced it’s lowering its fees and introducing new features to the way its members can select their insurance cover. Since launching in May, the new fund which has been initially targeting Australian millennials has successfully attracted over 12,000 members. Until now the boutique fund has charged a fee of 1.85% p.a. on your investment; quite high compared to many other funds, and especially for a new player. From today GROW Super will charge a much more competitive fee of 0.95% plus $1.65 per week. The move comes just three […]
GPS robo-adviser launches
Plenty Wealth, a robo-adviser that combines human advice has officially launched. Co-founders Josh Golombick and Greg Einfeld said Plenty Wealth provides a financial roadmap and acts like a “GPS service” in terms of financial goals, covering automated advice from budgeting and cash flows, to insurance, property and investments. One of the biggest advantages of an algorithm is that the results are transparent and cannot be swayed by human bias and conflicts, said Einfeld, who helped develop the algorithms based on his 20 years of working in the superannuation and wealth management industries. “What’s more, they allow us to produce quality advice on demand and bring the cost down to nothing,” […]
Moroku shortlisted for Banking Technology Awards – Top Digital Innovation
Now in their 18th year, the Banking Technology Awards have become established as the premier event recognising excellence, innovation and the use of IT in banking and financial services. The shortlisted companies for this year have just been announced with Moroku recognised for it’s collaboration with Finastra for Top Digital Innovation 2017. This recognises Moroku as one of the world’s top fintechs, separating the company from thousands of companies around the world trying to figure out what is next, highlighting not only the power of the firm’s innovation, but also it’s capacity to scale through distribution. https://awards.bankingtech.com/categoriespt/judged-awards/ This win comes off the back of Finastra , the world’s 3rd largest […]
Melbourne ‘buy now, pay later’ fintech Openpay just raised $10 million and cancelled IPO
Openpay has completed a $10 million capital raising round, and revealed it has cancelled plans for an initial public offering. The $10 million, which was originally marked as a pre-IPO round, came from “a group of investors” that included existing backer Meydan Group, as well as Investec and SL Investments Group. The company did not comment on the reasons for cancelling the IPO plans. Business Insider understands that chief executive Simon Scalzo departed the company in August after less than a year at the helm, with chairperson Avi Schechter currently acting as the public face of the fintech. The latest investment also sees Investec head of emerging companies David Phillips […]
Iliad Solutions & Verrency sign long-term agreement
British-based Iliad Solutions has signed a long-term agreement with global payments innovation provider Verrency for implementation of its highly innovative continuous testing software testing across all aspects of the Verrency service. After a global search earlier this year, Verrency chose Iliad’s t3:Switch solution to support its payments innovation service. Verrency is a new provider on the global scene enabling card issuers and their processors to deliver the latest innovative payment capabilities quickly and cost effectively through their existing payments infrastructure. Verrency Group Chairman and CEO David Link said the choice of Iliad was an easy one, as Verrency had designed all aspects of its business around innovation, […]
How the Rich Invest: Owen Kerr is making huge profits in forex with Pepperstone
Profits at Owen Kerr’s foreign exchange broker Pepperstone have surged in the 2017 financial year, as the company enjoyed a large increase in clients from Asia. Pepperstone’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) surged 99 per cent to a record $96.7 million from $166 million revenue. Net profit for the firm reached $71.2 million after the Melbourne-based company paid about $25 million in tax, documents recently filed with the corporate regulator revealed. The 2017 results were more than double from the previous year, during which Pepperstone had made a net profit of about $34 million from $96 million revenue and EBIT of $48 million. It also means Pepperstone’s valuation could […]
