Four steps to make Australia a fintech powerhouse
There are four policy mechanisms every Australian state and federal government should be “majoring in” in order to build a globally competitive fin tech industry, according to the CEO of fintech hub Stone and Chalk, Alex Scandurra. He says Australia has all the basic ingredients, but lacks critical mass and the cultural focus that has built a successful fintech industry in England. 1. Tax incentives “Unlike parts of the United States, we’re very similar to the United Kingdom in the we have a really big base of high net worths in Australia, but tech is foreign to them, and fintech is even more foreign to them,” he says. “They don’t […]
Helping Kids Become Financially Savvy
It’s rare to meet a person who has never experienced anxiety about money, at least once in their lifetime. For many of us, it all comes down to a lack of knowledge. But imagine if you were well-educated in the basics of money, from childhood? That’s the intention behind fintech start-up Piggy – a digital piggybank (pre-paid debit card) for 8-18 year olds. Piggy is the brainchild of former investment banker Mario Hasanakos, and Alex Badran, a recent PhD USyd graduate in mathematics. Piggy is a financial education product for families, built around a pre-paid debit card for kids, aged 8-18. They get a card which is useable for wherever […]
ASX considers blockchain for clearing and settlement
Bitcoin’s much-lauded transaction record, blockchain, is being seriously considered as a replacement for the Australian Securities Exchange’s clearing and settlement system. Managing director Elmer Funke Kupper said the ASX, which is in the middle of replacing its trading systems, had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to install the best technology, and blockchain could reduce cost, save time and cut complexity in the clearing and settlement of trades, now done by a system known as the Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS). Source: ASX considers blockchain for clearing and settlement
The FinTech future is here
Viewing the below chart of web searches, you could be forgiven for thinking that fintech has only really emerged in the past year. But the financial services sector has been innovating with technology for centuries – so why has it got so big recently? Source: Google The coming together of financial services and technology is nothing new. It will come as no surprise to know institutions have been using technology to improve their middle and back offices for as long as computers have been around. We used to call this banktech. In fact, banktech can be traced back to the 18th and 19th centuries when traders would use carrier pigeons […]
Pin Payments is happily perched in Perth
Nearly every day someone will tell Grant Bissett that he should move his startup away from Perth. All-in one multicurrency payment platform Pin Payments has been based in the Western Australian capital since its inception while running business development out of Melbourne, and co-founder and CEO Bissett has remained steadfast in staying put in his hometown. “We get opinions all day in every direction, and we get recommendations on moving to Melbourne or Sydney or London or San Francisco for a variety of reasons,” Bissett tells StartupSmart. “That’s all great – we just smile politely and then get on with our job.” After closing a $3.1 million series A round, […]
The need to be shrewd in the property boom
It’s said that buying a property is one of the most stressful life events. Further, mortgage lender incompetence, bank and finance problems are in the top 20 most stressful aspects of selling a property. For two people, those frustrations spawned the next big idea to hit the FinTech industry. Mandeep Sodhi, a loyal customer to his bank, thought he had secured the best rate on his home loan. Atul Narang on the other hand secured a better rate on his loan through a broker – but it wasn’t that easy, having already experienced two bad brokers. With this experience, the pair joined forces to bring clarity and simplicity to the […]
What You Really Need To Know About Working In Fintech
This is a great article to read if you’re thinking of working for or an Australian FinTech company From the outside, the tech industry can look like a homogenous sector, populated either by entrepreneurial whiz kids or bearded computer ‘geeks’. However, as with most industries, once you get beneath the surface, it becomes clear that the people who inhabit the tech industry are a varied bunch, utilising different skill sets and working in sub-sectors that have little in common. One of these sub-sectors, financial technology (or fintech), is attracting a range of talent, particularly workers who, in the past, may have been attracted to investment funds, law firms, or accountancy […]
Turnbull promises national digital identity, fintech committee
The federal government has adopted the majority of recommendations made in last year’s financial systems inquiry report, promising to deliver a national federated digital identity framework and a public-private sector innovation committee for the financial sector. In its long-awaited response to the December 2014 report, tabled today, the federal government also said it would ask the Productivity Commission to review options to improve data-sharing within the sector, and remove regulatory impediments to modern product information disclosure. By the end of next year, the government also intends to consider how to amend priority areas of regulation to make it technology neutral. Digital identity The FSI report, led by David Murray, highlighted […]
