Afterpay buy now pay later rival Zip favoured by investor Philip King of Regal
Shares in Afterpay Touch have doubled in the past 12 months as Millennials lap up its buy now, pay later solution to spending and now some investors are hoping its major rival, Westpac-backed payment provider Zip Co, can follow that lead. Regal Funds Management chief investment officer Philip King describes Zip as a “high-growth company that is in the sweet spot of moving from start-up losses to very high earnings growth”. Regal holds 6.4 per cent of Zip’s shares, which makes it the third largest shareholder after the company’s co-founder and chief executive Larry Diamond and Westpac. The renowned fund manager used to own Afterpay, but now prefers Zip on […]
A guide to Ripple wallets
Ripple (XRP) is a decentralized real-time gross settlement system (RTGS), remittance network, and currency exchange. It was created as a distributed open source protocol by Ripple Labs Inc., a US-based technology firm. Ripple (XRP) was initially derived from RipplePay, back in 2004, a platform that had plans to grow into the current Ripple services, long before Bitcoin had emerged. It was rebranded and co-founded by Jed McCaleb, a prominent industry figure who later founded Stellar Lumens, another equally popular remittance platform based on blockchain technology. Its platform supports tokens representing cryptocurrency, fiat currency, commodities and even other units of value such as frequent flier miles and mobile minutes. Although XRP […]
You want cash with that? ANZ plugs Apple Pay into eftpos
Millions of ANZ debit card holders will now be able to get cash out with over the counter Apple Pay transactions, after eftpos scored a massive win over the dominance of US credit card companies in smartphone payments. From today ANZ customers will get a new choice of picking cheque or savings for purchases made via debit cards linked to Apple Pay, specifically the Access Advantage Visa debit card which ANZ customer engagement lead Kath Bray said amounted to three million cardholders. ANZ is by far the most dominant Australian bank in the Apple Pay space after it broke away from rivals boycotting Cupertino because of the size of the […]
Cryptocurrency is radical but who does the radicalism benefit?
“Free speech” is one of the battle cries of far-right activists who target democratic consensus and seek to divide the public. Alt-right agitators and trolls embrace the cry of “freedom” even as they take actions that fundamentally corrode Western unity, credibility and morale. Claiming “freedom” in fact makes it hard for defenders of the rules-based nations to identify the threat to public order posed by partisans on private-sector digital platforms. So it is somewhat alarming to see a similar dynamic – the cry of “freedom” – play out in another sphere, that of currency and payments. Right now, terminology being embraced in the world of cryptocurrency places the technology in […]
SelfWealth launches ETF
Online broker SelfWealth will launch a new ETF targeting self-managed super funds. The SelfWealth SMSF Leaders ETF is due to launch on the ASX this financial year and listed under the ticker code SELF. It is pending regulatory ASX approval. ETF Securities Australia and its parent company ETFS Capital are backing SELF by providing $100 million in seed funding. ETF Securities Australia will act as the responsible entity. SelfWealth chief executive Andrew Ward said SELF will be constructed using data from the best-performing investors among 50,000 SMSF portfolios. It will offer clients “a high-performing investment asset that complements portfolios constructed using the SelfWealth platform, and delivering a new revenue stream […]
Open banking quietly delayed
The much-anticipated launch of open banking in Australia has been quietly delayed by the federal government by eight months. On the last Friday before Christmas, a day typically used to “take out the trash” and make some unfavorable or unpopular announcements, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg put out a statement late in the afternoon revealing that the open banking regime would not kick off in July as previously announced. Instead, a “pilot program” would be conducted by the Big Four banks in partnership with the ACCC and Data61 to “test the performance, reliability and security of the open banking system”. The delay is likely to infuriate the local FinTech sector and consumers […]
Capify secures $135 million from Goldman Sachs for SME loans
Capify, a leading Australian alternative SME finance provider has secured a $135 million credit facility from Goldman Sachs Private Capital (“Goldman Sachs”) to support its future growth plans and provide working capital to thousands of Australian SMEs over the coming years. The Sydney-based fintech company will use the new facility to accelerate the growth of its lending business to Australia SMEs through its business loan and merchant cash advance (MCA) products. Capify has been active in Australia since 2008, executing over 7,500 transactions for Australian SMEs seeking business financing and most recently celebrated its ten-year anniversary. “This is a landmark achievement for Capify and we are very pleased that we […]
Fintech trends and predictions for 2019
Fintechs are big, growing and are disruptive. Why wouldn’t they be when they are using innovative technologies making banking and financial services more efficient. So what are the predictors and futurists saying the landscape will look like in 2019 and beyond? Here’s a collection of some of the sources we think are on point! Bitcoin is Just the Beginning The Australian predicts that Bitcoin is Just the Beginning and that the “fintech” revolution is upon us – but we may only be at the start of it. Highlights include: “Financial technology is not only changing the way people purchase and invest, it’s changing the very definition of money as well.” […]
