NAB private banking in alliance with Israel’s OurCrowd
Clients of National Australia Bank’s private bank will get special access to venture capital raisings by global technology companies, with NAB and the Israeli equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd announcing a collaboration deal on Sunday. NAB joins United Overseas Bank of Singapore and Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank of Taiwan in assisting OurCrowd to distribute deals while also getting access to start-ups funded through the platform, one of the world’s largest crowdfunding groups that has raised over $600 million for more than 120 early-stage companies. The deal was announced during an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce’s women leaders delegation in Israel, that was attended by NAB Private executive general manager Christine Yates. […]
Even banks are touched by the Amazon effect
Such is the impact of Amazon that it is even affecting what people expect from their bank. That’s the view of the chief executive of fintech firm Avoka, Phil Copeland, who said the user experience provided by the shopping giant has fed into an expectation among consumers that you should be able to sign up for products easily and simply online. With banks also nervously eyeing fintech competitors, the dynamic is forcing banks to sharpen their focus on “digital customer acquisition”, or online sales. “Amazon has really changed the landscape a lot, for a lot of people. There’s an expectation that if it’s not as easy as doing business with […]
Why Australia needs to champion an open system for blockchain
American astronomer and educator Clifford Stoll wrote an article in 1995 called ‘Why the Web won’t be Nirvana’. It still gets passed around as an amusing discussion piece highlighting the doubts people had about the internet. Stoll was sceptical about the web, especially “cyber business”: “So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month?” The Clifford Stolls are still out there. You’ll find some of them these days expressing doubts about blockchain technology. But plenty of very reputable and smart people have recognised blockchain could be the building block for something truly transformative, as revolutionary as the internet. This […]
Australian robo-advisors dismiss ING report
The new survey by finance giant ING has been dismissed by Australian robo-advisors as failing the history test and being contradicted by other studies. ING’s survey, which captured headlines, found that 90 percent of global respondents would never use robo-advice. Robo-advisors ranked below friends, family and even the internet as a source of investment advice. “Years ago our parents generation paid for everything in cash and cheque books, people were initially fearful of ATM card technology and online shopping . We now live in virtually a cashless society and online retail is the norm,” Chris Brycki, the CEO of Stockspot, told AltFi. “The idea that robo-advice can’t replace a human […]
Link4 named as a Leading Global Innovator in 2017
Judged by leading innovation experts, Link4 has been identified as one of the top 100 ventures with the potential to disrupt markets globally. Disrupt 100 is an index compiled by Tällt Ventures, a global data intelligence and innovation company, celebrating the ventures with the most potential to influence, change or create new global markets. Link4 has been recognised as a company with the potential to change the world we live in by supporting small business owners. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Link4 has the goal to make life easier for businesses around the world through simple eInvoicing. Only 4 Australian companies made the list, with each company being judged against […]
41% of young Aussies don’t know how to pay bills
New research commissioned by BPAY Group has revealed younger Australians lack knowledge around bill payments and struggle with everyday finance management. 41 per cent of Australians aged between 18 and 25 say that they have no effective system for paying their bills. 1000 Australian bill payers between the ages of 18 and 65 were surveyed in late 2016, with the findings collated by strategic research consultancy The Leading Edge. Five bill payer personalities were identified to categorise the habits and attitudes of Australian bill payers, and include: – Big Picture Organisers: 28 per cent – Life Jugglers: 27 per cent – Rigid Record Keepers: 19 per cent – Mobile and […]
NAB Ventures leads $32 million funding for Canadian fintech firm
NAB Ventures led a US$24 million (AU$32 million) series D funding round for cloud fintech firm Wave. The latter, based in Canada, delivers financial management software like payroll, invoicing and accounting. Melissa Widner, NAB Ventures’ general partner, said that the bank is interested in any emerging technologies that offer a connected experience to customers. NAB has more than 450,000 small and medium business customers, making it one of the largest banks in Australia. Wave co-founder and chief executive Kirk Simpson said that nobody understands small business in Australia better than NAB. He added that they are looking forward to explore how to serve businesses better alongside the bank. “We also […]
Bitcoin’s rapid rise gives reason to question all the hype
Bitcoin’s astronomical rally has cryptocurrency bulls feeling vindicated. “Not so fast!,” sceptics say. The digital currency’s more than 100 per cent surge in the past two months looks eerily familiar, argue the bears, pointing to November 2013, when the price quintupled in short order to top $US1,000 for the first time. By Valentine’s Day it was worth around half that, and spent the better part of the next two years languishing below $500. Then it absolutely exploded, jumping more than $1,400 in two months. At its height last week, one bitcoin could buy about two ounces of gold. Its champions touted the arrival into the mainstream of blockchain, the coin’s […]
