The Benzinga Global Fintech Awards – entries closing soon
The Benzinga Global Fintech Awards May 11, 2017 in New York, is the premier event in Fintech, celebrating financial innovation from around the world. The Benzinga Awards is a competition to showcase the companies with the most impressive technology, who are paving the future in financial services and capital markets! Applications are still open, so apply now before the March 17 deadline. At the event, you’ll get a first look at groundbreaking technology, innovative platforms, and the chance to network freely with top industry professionals. Over 550 FinTech CEOs, C-suite executives of financial institutions, VCs, press, and others attended the 2016 Benzinga Fintech Awards. 45 exclusive exhibitor spots on the show floor […]
Westpac’s Reinventure hires new partner to help fintech startups crack the US
Westpac’s $100 million venture capital fund Reinventure has hired a new partner with experience from Wall Street and Silicon Valley, seeking to help local fintech start-ups attack the world stage and catch the eye of potential US suitors. US-born Kara Frederick, a former Goldman Sachs executive, was a senior adviser at US-based boutique investment bank GrowthPoint Technology Partners and also founded middle-market advisory firm Tiger Financial Group. She joins Reinventure founders and managing partners Simon Cant and Danny Gilligan as the firm’s first general partner. The fund was set up by the giant bank in 2014 to invest in fintech start-ups that could potentially compete with its own businesses. “Australia […]
SETL wants to settle and clear equities in competition with ASX
The ASX is facing competition for clearing and settling equities, with blockchain start-up SETL pledging to build a post-trading system cheaper and to deploy it quicker than the replacement for the existing CHESS infrastructure, which is being developed by the ASX itself and US group Digital Asset Holdings. London-based SETL is raising capital from some Australian brokers and has retained local lawyers to prepare regulatory applications to approve its system. The move comes as the federal government considers whether to remove the ASX’s monopoly over equities settlement and clearing – the vital “pipes” that underpin the operation of Australia’s equity markets – later this year, if regulators can devise a […]
Super fund Spaceship accused of high risk and not enough returns
A start-up super fund that is aggressively targeting millennials via social media has investment advisers alarmed that it is more expensive than most super funds and is taking significant risk without promising higher returns. But Spaceship, which has the backing of venture capital and tech luminaries such as Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, says strict rules mean it can’t gamble customers’ super, while the fees are a small price to pay for the superior returns that will come from investing in technology. The super fund says it expects to kick off with $100 million of funds under management from young Australians when it launches later this month, after “early adopters” moved […]
Bitcoin price plunges after SEC rejection
Regulator says no to first ETF to track the digital currency. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has denied a request to list what would have been the first US exchange-traded fund built to track Bitcoin, sending the price of the digital currency plunging. Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have been trying for more than three years to convince the SEC to let them bring the Bitcoin ETF to market. CBOE’s Bats exchange had applied to list the ETF. In response to the rejection, the digital currency’s price fell as much as 18 percent in trading before rebounding slightly. It last traded down 7.8 percent to US$1098. Bitcoin had scaled […]
Sydney Fintech Moroku signs global distribution deal with Misys
Misys is making gamification an integral part of its Misys FusionBanking Essence Digital platform to help banks educate the next generation on better money management. Integrating Moroku’s GameSystem directly into the Essence Digital architecture enables banks to inject some fun into personal financial management (PFM) and help consumers achieve their savings goals. “Digitalisation has completely changed the way that people interact and we believe the next generation will be more incentivised through gamification,” said Simon Paris, President at Misys. “Supporting better financial management and education in banking is a powerful tool that moves consumer experience beyond the transactional and opens the door to bring people of all age groups […]
Asia Pacific leads digital wallet adoption says Mastercard
Asia Pacific leads the world when it comes to digital wallet usage via mobile and smart devices as revealed in the 2017 Mastercard Digital Payments study. Payments via ewallet tops 83% of APAC conversations compared to 75% of global conversations tracked in the 2017 study. Consumers are also showing an increased interest in the application of new technologies to make shopping faster, easier and more secure. The topic of virtual reality generated the most positive sentiment globally and in Asia Pacific (100% positive) among emerging technology topics, as shoppers imagine completing a purchase with the simple nod of their head. “Technology is making the promise and the potential of a […]
Bitcoin is now more valuable than gold
The currency’s success is in part due to its popularity in Asia. The Bitcoin digital currency has exceeded the value of gold for the first time in history, hitting a high of $US1,278.21 while the price of an ounce of gold was worth $US1,236.10 at the time of writing. The value of Bitcoin has been steadily increasing over the last three months, rising 30%, while the value of gold has decreased, suggesting people are starting to accept the digital currency as a serious way to pay for goods. Bitcoin’s value has risen as a result of increased demand in China, despite a crackdown by the government, which claimed the currency […]
