SocietyOne sets new record with triple milestones in 2017
SocietyOne, Australia’s pioneering and leading consumer marketplace lender, has set new records for lending with growth in 2017 already surpassing the level of volumes for the whole of 2016. Total lending since the company started operating five years ago has now topped $350 million as the current loan book also reached $200 million for the first time in SocietyOne’s history. These were new records for a consumer finance marketplace lender in Australia with SocietyOne having originated more than twice the loans than that of the company’s nearest competitor. SocietyOne has now enjoyed seven successive quarters of strong growth as it scales up. New lending to borrowers in […]
Myer launches credit card featuring Android Pay and Apple Pay
Myer’s new rewards-based Myer Credit Card is the first Australian retailer-provided Visa card with Android Pay and Apple Pay. The Visa credit card, issued by Macquarie Bank, will allow people to use their smart phone’s digital wallet to pay with either Android or Apple Pay. Consumers also have access to a range of security features and budgeting tools through the Myer Credit Card app, designed to make it easier to track and manage spending. The Myer Credit Card works off a rewards-based system, whereby customers can earn uncapped Shopping Credits on eligible purchases at Myer and MYER one affiliates by presenting their MYER one card number at point-of-purchase. Canstar Research […]
NAB’s Apple Pay gap
There have been curious developments over the Tasman in relation to Apple Pay, with National Australia Bank’s BNZ unit announcing today it will offer the service to customers by the end of this month. Yes, that’s the same NAB that tried to enlist the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in a nasty spat with Apple over access to the iPhone’s near-field communication antenna. Success would have enabled the bank to offer its own digital wallet to iPhone users in competition with the Apple’s wallet, but without using Apple Pay. The competition watchdog knocked back the application by NAB, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, ruling that competition could be distorted if the […]
Westpac increases investment in mortgage broker start-up uno Home Loans with $5m
Westpac Banking Corporation has increased its majority stake in digital mortgage broking platform Uno, ploughing another $5 million into the company. The big four bank has now invested about $26.5 million into the venture and owns 92 per cent of ordinary shares, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents. Factoring in shares that are subject to vesting, on a fully diluted basis Westpac still owns more than three quarters of the company. Founder and chief executive Vincent Turner told The Australian Financial Review the funding provided by Westpac had given the fintech start-up a leg up it couldn’t have had otherwise. “If we wanted to move fast, learn fast […]
How consumers can help clean up the alternative lending market
An influx of alternative lenders and a seemingly unbreakable cycle of bad debt for borrowers have given the short-term loan sector a bad reputation. However, consumers have a role to play in helping clean up the industry. The first step – understanding how lenders should be acting. ASIC requires lenders to conduct ‘reasonable inquiries about a consumer’s financial situation.’ This means inquiries must be made about the consumer’s actual situation and, while alternative lenders are known to be more lenient when it comes to bad credit scores and being on Centrelink, they must still gather enough information about circumstances likely to affect a consumer’s ability to repay their loan. Daniel […]
Netwealth founders say AI, data mining to shape $750b platform market
The founders of financial planning platform Netwealth predict artificial intelligence and data mining will lead innovation in the fast-growing platform market, ahead of an expected $900 million sharemarket listing of the family company later this year, which could catapult its founders onto the Financial Review Rich List. Michael Heine, his brother Leslie Heine and and Michael’s son Matt Heine, founded the company, which provides software and financial products to non-bank aligned financial planners, in 1999. Since then, Netwealth, which now has funds under management, administration and advice of $15.5 billion and employs 220 staff, is among a clutch of increasingly influential companies that have built businesses by signing up advisers […]
‘Facebook for investors’: Selfwealth launches $7.5m initial public offering
Online share trading platform and investment community Selfwealth has pushed the button on its initial public offering as it looks to expand its suite of offerings and position itself as the Facebook of investing. Selfwealth describes itself as a potentially disruptive brokerage service with a peer-to-peer portfolio construction functionality in the offer document lodged with the corporate regulator last week. The platform provides a flat fee share trading of $9.50 per parcel of shares and allows members to publish and monitor share trades in real time. The service is looking to capitalise on the rise of the self directed investor while the IPO should benefit from a growing appetite for ‘fintech’ […]
Banks want to charge for handing over customer data
Major banks want to charge fintech businesses in exchange for handing over data on the banks’ customers, a sign of the likely tensions to emerge as the government looks to break open the banks’ information vaults. In a move that could have far-reaching implications for banks and their customers alike, Treasurer Scott Morrison earlier this year ordered an investigation into “open banking”, a system that would allow customers to securely share their financial data with rivals. While the banks are supportive of the general move, submissions to a Treasury have highlighted the cost of making more transaction data available, with suggestions banks could face costs in the hundreds of millions […]
