Australia’s first next-gen digital bank is live
South-Melbourne based technology developer, Ferocia – presented the wide range of benefits this next-gen digital bank will offer customers.
CBA and Data61 join forces to create ‘smart money’
The Commonwealth Bank and CSIRO’s Data61 have joined forces to create “smart money” using blockchain technology, which has the potential to reduce fraud and revolutionise government programs such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme. In an initial proof-of-concept called Making Money Smart, the organisations have created programmable money by using smart contracts on a private blockchain, allowing conditions to be applied to the way the money is spent. CBA’s head of experimentation and blockchain, Sophie Gilder, told The Australian Financial Review the NDIS was a logical scheme to apply smart money to because of the number of rules, the scale and the lack of transparency and manual reconciliation that takes […]
Westpac customers can now deposit cheques via mobile
Westpac launches Australian-first feature allowing customers to scan and deposit cheques via the Westpac Live app. In an Australian first Westpac has launched Westpac Mobile Cheque Deposit, a feature enabling customers to scan and submit cheques via mobile banking. Customers can take a photo of their physical cheque and deposit it with the bank through the Westpac Live mobile banking app, without the need to visit a branch or ATM. If you, like me, haven’t used a cheque for the better part of a decade this new feature might seem a bit odd. However, Westpac still receives more than 30,000 physical cheques from customers each and every day highlighting the […]
Volt Bank signs PayPal deal to tackle customer inertia
Start-up Volt Bank hopes to tackle customer inertia in the banking sector by partnering with global payment giant PayPal to make the sign-up process easier. Under the deal, which is PayPal’s first partnership with an Australian company, Volt Bank will be able to tap into PayPal’s 7.2 million active user base in Australia to sign up customers using their PayPal account. This means PayPal customers will be able to use their existing personal data to skip a couple of steps when signing up to become a Volt Bank customer. The deal also means when Volt Bank issues debit and credit cards to customers they will be automatically linked to PayPal, meaning customers don’t […]
Traders, data, machine learning will boost returns: Liquidnet
Fund managers are leaving returns on the table by not involving their traders in key investment decisions and seeking to harness more data sources, artificial intelligence and machine learning. That is the view of Liquidnet’s global chief executive Seth Merrin, who believes “traders are the largest source of untapped alpha” in a portfolio manager’s arsenal. “State-of-the-art in research right now is still the spreadsheet… that’s very static,” Mr Merrin said in an interview, adding that traditional research processes needed a shake-up. “There is an enormous amount of data if you can sift through if you have the right technology. “We are not talking about robotics, we are talking about machine […]
MYOB receives non-binding $2.2b takeover bid from KKR
Accounting software company MYOB has received an unsolicited, non-binding takeover bid from New York-based private equity firm KKR, valuing the business at just under $2.2 billion. The cash proposal for $3.70 per share, which was first flagged by Street Talk, represents a 24 per cent premium to MYOB previous closing price of $2.98 per share. On an enterprise value basis (factoring in net debt and an adjustment for its share buyback), the deal is valued at $2.6 billion. The non-binding proposal is conditional on a range of factors including the unanimous recommendation of MYOB’s board, confirmation of confirmatory due diligence on KKR’s part and obtaining debt financing on acceptable terms. MYOB […]
Australians are turning to robo-advisers to boost their returns
Investors hunting for decent returns on their hard-earned cash are looking at other options outside of parking their money in the bank. Interest rates on term deposits and online savings accounts remain around 1 to 2 per cent while the value of Australian sharemarket has climbed by 9 per cent over the past 12 months. Shares have also paid dividends averaging a healthy 4 per cent. Accountant Guy Bane, 29, said he was always looking to diversify his investments and he had steered clear of keeping cash in the bank. Instead he used robo-adviser Stockspot to do the hard work for him. “I’m trying to build a bit more wealth […]
YTML opens Seido Financial Advice App Store
YTML will officially open the Seido Financial Advice App Store at the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) Conference on the Gold Coast this week. YTML CEO, Kevin Liao said Seido, which has already attracted various providers including SuiteBox, AstuteWheel, Omnium, ChantWest and customised offers, enables Apps which have been designed for each stage of the financial advice process to work together to create client-friendly, succinct and compliant advice documents in a fraction of the time it currently takes. “In this sense, the Seido App Store moves beyond what we traditionally think of when we think of App stores,” Mr Liao said. “It is designed to not only act as a […]
