Swiss watchmaker develops $100K timepiece with built-in crypto wallet
Swiss-based watchmaker A. Favre & Fils is developing a luxury timepiece that would be able to store cryptocurrencies, local media agency swissinfo.ch reported on Thursday. The company traces its history back to 1718 and can be viewed as one of the oldest watchmakers in Switzerland. It intends to build a new form of digital wallet that would have mechanical elements integrated. The crypto watch would combine the current technology behind digital assets with Switzerland’s traditional craft. The cost of one unit will range between $102,000 and $153,000. Laurent Favre, founder and CEO of A. Favre & Fils, told the media that the company planned to make the mechanical watch relevant […]
The 5 trends shaping global payments in 2019
The financial landscape in Australia changed significantly in 2018. Last year, the government announced the first stage of open banking would be implemented in July 2019. Also announced last year by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) was a change that opened Australia’s shores to a new generation of banks – neobanks – to compete with the Big Four. As we enter 2019, we’ll see the payments industry continue to evolve faster than ever to meet global demands for payment solutions that are quick, efficient and transparent. The year ahead will be a defining one for the payments landscape, with five key trends driving further change globally, including: real-time payments […]
Australia’s first academy launches for businesses wanting to ride crowdfunding wave in 2019
Australian businesses will learn how to become crowdfunding champions – thereby helping to avoid an emerging ‘credit crunch’ – as part of a government-supported private academy to be addressed by two international experts. Sydney-based ReadyFundGo has launched a crowdfunding academy – which is the first of its type in the country – to operate across Australia during early February. The academy has received funding from the Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme. The academy launch comes amid evidence that 2019 will be a turning point for the business crowdfunding sector, thanks to new regulatory changes, credit shortages and rising interest in the fundraising option. In October last year, the Australian Government commenced […]
‘Collaboration’ key to seeing full potential of AI
New calls have been issued for the finance industry to change its mindset and embrace “greater collaboration” to leverage the full potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. Education provider Kaplan Professional and regtech company Red Marker issued the call after noting that the financial advice industry had been looking for automated compliance solutions given that new reforms require financial advisers to be covered by a compliance scheme by 1 January 2020. However, before an artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning solution is put in place, the automated solutions are not a panacea for all compliance needs, Kaplan Professional and Red Marker suggested. According to the two bodies, financial […]
More investors taking on smart beta ETFs
Research from VanEck reveals that investors are increasing their allocation towards smart beta ETFs, as opposed to market capitalisation and active strategies. Smart beta cumulative net flows as a percentage of total flows has grown from 11.7 per cent to 21.7 per cent between 2016 and 2018, according to VanEck’s ETF IQ Scorecard for December 2018. “By strategy, smart beta ETFs are gaining in popularity, now accounting for about one-quarter of all inflows at $1.6 billion over the year to date, as investors seek targeted investment outcomes and wealth-building strategies not offered by traditional ETFs, which track market capitalisation indices,” VanEck said. Meanwhile, net flow allocation to active exchange-traded products […]
ANZ Bank buys into online mortgage broker Lendi
ANZ Banking Group has taken a strategic stake in online home loans platform Lendi. Street Talk understands ANZ paid close to $40 million for a minority stake, to become Lendi’s second largest strategic shareholder behind fellow Australian financial services giant Macquarie Group. Importantly for Lendi, which has 37 banks and lenders on its open home loans platform, the business will continue to be run independently and at arms length to its strategic investors. ANZ will not be given a board seat, as consistent with Lendi’s treatment of Macquarie and other strategic investors including Pepper. It is understood ANZ agreed to write the cheque after spending much of last year talking […]
HSBC used blockchain to settle $250B worth of trades
HSBC has settled $250 billion worth of forex trades using blockchain in the last year, it said on Monday, suggesting the heavily hyped technology is gaining traction in a sector until now hesitant to embrace it. The bank has settled over three million forex trades and made over 150,000 payments since February using blockchain, it said in a statement. HSBC would not give data on forex trades settled by traditional processes, saying only that those settled by blockchain represented a “small” proportion. Still, the data marks a significant milestone in the use of blockchain by mainstream finance, which has until now been reluctant to start using the technology at any […]
Don’t miss out on Moneytech’s Coding For Payments workshop
Building tailored payments workflows is often difficult. But as people increasingly are expecting seamless movement of funds as part of their app/product/service experience, coding for payments is becoming more important. Simply adding a credit-card gateway might not be enough. This workshop is about exactly that: how do we build tailored API-driven payments workflows. From “receive” through “manage” to “pay”. The Moneytech workshop will cover the following: Non-technical overview of payment landscape and what NPP and Open Banking means High-level compliance considerations The “building blocks” of Australian payments – direct entry, BPAY, credit cards, NPP, virtual accounts, tokens etc – and things to think about for each of them Practical code […]
