Partnerships driving the local fintech sector
Financial technology startups are growing in Australia, from less than 100 in 2014 to approximately 579 companies today. Many financial businesses see this as a direct threat, but if our country is to have any hope of building a world-class financial services technology industry, the future lies not in competition, but in collaboration. We are already seeing the local attitude change, with a recent PwC report finding that over 82% of financial institutions expect to increase fintech partnerships in the next three to five years. By partnering and collaborating with smaller fintech startups, established companies can accelerate industry growth and push the capabilities of both parties forward. Australia has a […]
Australia and New Zealand formalise fintech agreement
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority (FMA) have re-affirmed their commitment to promote innovation and fintech development across the Tasman. It’s confirmation of the wide-ranging Memorandum of Understanding reached between the countries in 2012 and follows a meeting focused on the need to foster fintech innovation and growth while also protecting consumers and managing risks. One of the main points that emerged is the formalisation of information-sharing agreements and referral arrangements through which businesses that venture into other markets can get a referral from one regulator to another. Information-sharing agreements help regulators stay on top of emerging developments elsewhere, while referral arrangements can […]
Midwinter & PractiFI integrate to provide advisers with world class business management system
PractiFI and Midwinter Financial Services have today announced a software partnership which is set to streamline the financial planning advice process. Through both systems’ open API, PractiFI, the business management platform for financial services, will seamlessly integrate with AdviceOS, Midwinter’s flagship financial planning software. The integration provides users with connected access to both systems, allowing data to flow freely each way. It comes as demand is increasing for an industry specific CRM, which PractiFI offers with its Salesforce-based platform. The integration synchronises rich client details between PractiFI and AdviceOS, removing the effort involved in duplicate data entry and the risk of error. It also allows advisers and […]
Afterpay surges as sales head for $1.5b
Lay-by payments service Afterpay Touch says its underlying annualised sales are on track to surpass $1.5 billion as more major brands sign up. The fintech’s first quarter sales hit $367 million, up from $271 million in the fourth quarter of 2016/17, and comes after Target, Luxottica and Petbarn recently adopted its online payments system. Shares in Afterpay jumped 48 cents, or 10.2 per cent, to $5.18 on the company’s quarterly sales update. Afterpay says more than 8,600 merchants are now on board, up from about 6,000 on June 30. And more brands are expected to join up in the second quarter. “Significant development of partnership and platform initiatives in the […]
Hashkloud Australia’s Blockchain integrated PaySHA digital payments platform goes LIVE
PaySHA promises cashless and cardless digital payments that uses Blockchain & QR code technologies to deliver real time payment solutions for the customers Hashkloud Pty Ltd (HKAU), a Blockchain focused Fintech company based in Sydney, Australia announced that United Commercial Bank Ltd (UCB), a full service commercial bank based in Dhaka, Bangladesh have launched Upay, a digital payments platform on Oct 17th, 2017. Upay is based on HKAU’s PaySHA Digital Payments Platform, a universal digital payments platform that uses Blockchain technology where transactional data during payments processing are cryptographically hashed and verified using Blockchain. PaySHA supports a cashless and cardless digital wallet that uses QR (Quick Response) code to deliver […]
Link4 partners with Squirrel Street for faster invoice processing
Turning the information in an invoice into an entry in a cloud accounting system is a pain point for businesses. Now Squirrel Street’s industry leading AI data extraction and human verification process has been incorporated into Link4 so users can import legacy PDF invoices along with instant, truly digital, eInvoices into any of the six main cloud accounting solutions used throughout Australia. This partnership announcement is a win for all business owners from micro to medium enterprises, as it provides them with functionality often reserved for large enterprises. “Both teams have been working together in order to offer a smooth user experience and increase their productivity,” said […]
Ethereum Founder: Central Banks far from Digital Currency
Vitalik Buterin, the 23-year-old creator of the world’s second biggest digital currency, Ethereum, isn’t worried about coming competition from the central banks of the world. Speaking in Toronto on Tuesday, Buterin downplayed the possibility of countries creating digital versions of their currencies that could rival or displace bitcoin or Ethereum. He said the advent of a national currency based on a blockchain, which is the distributed ledger technology that underpins bitcoin and Ethereum, will take years to launch. “If there is [such a launch] it will be a server and a bunch of marketing buzzwords to make it look like a blockchain,” Buterin said, suggesting central banks lack the ability […]
LoyaltyX launch world-first Blockchain loyalty project at UNSW
LoyaltyX and University of NSW (UNSW) have partnered to launch a world-first blockchain loyalty research project, giving students an opportunity to earn Ether cryptocurrency at the checkout of participating merchants simply by scanning a barcode in their digital wallet. UNSW students and staff can earn $5 of Ether for every ten transactions they make across eleven campus retailers, including Boost Juice and IGA, as part of the Unify Rewards program that goes live on trial today. Ether is a cryptocurrency supported by the Ethereum network. The revolutionary program will give members access to the dynamic frontier of cryptocurrency with no risk or investment required. LoyaltyX Chief Design […]
