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Pioneering Australian start-up incubator and consultancy Pollenizer will shut down after conceding that it had failed to find a sustainable business model for its operations. The company, which has nurtured hundred of local start-ups since being founded in 2007 by Phil Morle and Mick Liubinskas, officially told staff and investors on Tuesday that it had reached the end of the road. Mr Morle had been running Pollenizer as sole chief executive since Mr Liubinskas left to join Telstra-backed incubator Muru-D. Mr Liubinskas has been based in San Francisco since last year as Muru-D’s venture portfolio manager, but remained a director at Pollenizer. Mr Morle told The Australian Financial Review the […]

ANZ’s chief executive has flagged further partnerships with fintech and regulatory technology companies, saying large organisations faced a “trap” of driving up operational risks by doing too much themselves. Fresh from a trip to Europe to see how banks were tackling the rapid rise of digital, Shayne Elliott said he was not concerned that fintechs were trying to “eat our lunch” and tipped that banks and start-ups would increasingly leverage each other’s skills and market ­advantages. After signing up ANZ last year to Apple’s digital wallet Apple Pay, Mr Elliott added that technology companies such as Uber and Amazon were setting the bar for consumer expectations and banks needed to […]

The next generation of tech entrepreneurs are being called on to come up with ideas that will disrupt the banking and finance industry and solve real business problems at the BOQ Hackathon, running from 3 – 5 March 2017.   Hosted by BOQ and technology start-up hub River City Labs, budding innovators and tech-heads will pitch their business idea and solution to a panel of high-profile tech judges.   Over a 52-hour window, attendees will have the opportunity to bounce ideas and solutions around with some of Queensland’s top talent before turning their concepts into prototypes.   Donna-Maree Vinci, Group Executive and Chief Operations, Digital and Information Officer (CxO) at […]

While there is plenty of talk of fintech impacting financial institutions, we are still in the early stages of disruption, says MoneyMe chief executive Clayton Howes. Speaking at a Sydney fintech meetup held at KPMG’s Barangaroo headquarters last week, Mr Howes said disruption by the sector’s entrepreneurs has a long way to go. “Fintech hasn’t even begun to disrupt banking yet. Wait until you see what’s about to hit over the next few years, as consumers become increasingly accustomed to faster, more convenient and more personalised ways of interacting with their own money,” he said. “They will continue to demand more from financial institutions, and it will be the fintechs […]

A reluctance by banks and government agencies to share data with alternative lenders is driving up the cost of borrowing in Australia, a global fintech leader told the AltFi Australasia conference in Sydney today. Rob Young, Senior Vice President, International at OnDeck Capital Inc, said that a lack of open data is a major issue for alternative lenders in the fintech space. “If we want fintech to flourish we need to create the right environment. This means fast and easy sharing of data – with customers’ permission – so lenders can make informed decisions. Customers get a better deal when their lender has more certainty about their credit profile,” he […]