Prospa appoints Non-Executive Directors and Chairman
Prospa, Australia’s #1 online lender to small business, has today announced the appointment of Gail Pemberton AO and Fiona Trafford-Walker as Independent Non-Executive Directors to the Prospa Board. In addition, current Non-Executive Director Greg Ruddock has been appointed to the role of Chairman of the Board, having recently stepped down from the Board of Eclipx Group Limited to focus on Prospa. The new Board members will join existing Non-Executive Directors Avi Eyal from Entrée Capital, James Cameron from AirTree Ventures, and Executive Directors and Co-Founders Greg Moshal & Beau Bertoli. Joint CEO Greg Moshal commented: “Prospa’s success has been the result of a group of smart, talented and passionate people […]
Banks bet on AI to win back regulator, consumer trust
International tech behemoth IBM is expecting a significant boost to its Watson Financial Services division in Australia, with the big four banks turning to artificial intelligence in its IT systems to win back the trust of consumers in the wake of the Hayne royal commission and years of banking scandals. Speaking to The Australian Financial Review from his Astor Place office in New York, IBM vice-president of Watson Financial Services, Marc Andrews, said it was already conducting trials with most of the major banks in the country using its cognitive computer Watson for everything from reducing the strain of regulatory compliance, to overhauling the way the banks detect financial crimes. […]
Soros prepares to trade cryptocurrencies as prices plunge
George Soros called cryptocurrencies a bubble in January. Now his $26 billion ($33 billion) family office is planning to trade digital assets. Adam Fisher, who oversees macro investing at New York-based Soros Fund Management, got internal approval to trade virtual coins in the last few months, though he has yet to make a wager, according to people familiar with the matter. A spokesman declined to comment. Soros, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said digital coins cannot function as actual currencies because of their volatility. But he didn’t predict the hard tumble that some observers had forecast at the time. “As long as you have dictatorships on the […]
Novatti launches brand new payments bridge between Australian BPAY and Chinese Alipay
The international online payments landscape is rapidly evolving as yet another ASX-listed payments processor, Novatti Group (ASX: NOV) announced the launch of a bill payment service, able to bridge the gap between Australian supply and Chinese demand. Novatti announced the launch of its new bill payment service chinapayments.com, a financial technology (fintech) platform enabling consumers to pay bills via Australia’s BPAY system, using funds from their Alipay wallet. The race for payments dominance in Australia is truly on with several companies now vying to become the go-to brands to court Chinese customers. Last month, Smartpay (ASX: SMP) struck a deal directly with Alipay, with the deal bringing together the largest […]
How Fintech is changing the way we do business?
Although it seems ubiquitous, Fintech is actually still a very young industry. That said, there are certainly distinctly common threads across those within it, which could largely be considered increased accessibility, and speed. Fintech is responsible for the introduction and rise of peer-to-peer payments, mobile banking, and omnichannel payments processing which benefit not only individuals but also businesses. We’re living, working, shopping, and transacting in the internet era, so it’s expected that the way we do businesses is equally as nimble – and it’s Fintech that makes this possible. Regardless of the size of a business, keeping up to date with financial technology is imperative for not only increased efficiencies […]
Private Equity and Venture Capital technology investments key for investors
Chief Executive Officer of Crestone Wealth Management Michael Chisholm says investor access to the quickly growing technology sector is an important investment and social consideration in the current market cycle. Mr Chisholm said access to private equity or venture capital funds, which are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes, can help cushion portolios against any equity market downturn. Crestone recently invited a group of Australia’s leading venture capital (VC) investors to provide their views on technology. The panel included Paul Bassat, Co-Founder and Partner from Square Peg Capital, Daniel Petre, Co-Founder and Partner from AirTree Ventures, Niki Scevak, Managing Director and Founder from Blackbird Ventures, Emma Weston, Co-Founder and CEO from […]
GBST, Superestate launch digital super product
The mobile accessible fund will provide Superestate with a secure, member-oriented platform allowing greater communication and engagement with its members.
Australia rolls out new AML/CTF laws for digital currency exchange providers
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has announced that digital currency exchange (DCE) providers would be required to meet Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) obligations, effective 3 April 2018. AUSTRAC is Australia’s financial intelligence agency with regulatory responsibility for AML/CTF. “A ‘policy principles’ period of six months will be in place from 3 April 2018. During that period, the AUSTRAC CEO can only take enforcement action if a DCE business fails to take ‘reasonable steps’ to comply,” AUSTRAC said. Under the new AML/CTF laws, DCE providers would be required to: Adopt and maintain and AML/CTF program to identify, mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorism financing […]
