Westpac abandons financial advice
Westpac will get out of the troubled personal advice sector and two of its top executives will depart the bank as it joins its big-four rivals in abandoning the once-dominant model of vertical integration. The bank announced on Tuesday it would exit the high-cost, loss-making business, producing $280 million in savings by 2020. Westpac group executives George Frazis and Brad Cooper will leave the bank as part of the changes. Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer said most customers did not differentiate between banking and wealth products and just wanted help to buy a home or plan for retirement. “We’re realigning our capabilities into the lines of business where it makes […]
A fintech wanting to be ‘Australia’s leading migrant bank’ has launched a $4 million placement
There are plenty of fintechs and plenty of small caps seeking money from Chinese consumers, but few companies that are both. Novatti (ASX: NOV) is one of them. The ASX-listed small cap is a holding company for half a dozen fintech platforms. One of these is chinapayments.com which allows Chinese people in Australia to pay Australian utilities bills through AliPay. They receive fees on a per-transaction basis for payments through the platform. In December, the volume was around $200,000 a month but in January this rose to $460,000. For those with loved ones back home, they can send money overseas through TransferBridge or MoniSend, or alternatively pay bills on their behalf. […]
Digital wallet payments surge on Apple Pay: CBA
The Commonwealth Bank says the number of digital wallet transactions has nearly tripled since it launched Apple Pay earlier this year, as strong growth in tap-and-go payments continues to displace cash. After CBA in late January became the second big four lender to offer the payment service — which allows consumers to make purchases by tapping their phone on a merchant terminal — there has been a clear surge in people paying with iPhones. “Since we’ve introduced Apple Pay, we’ve seen the number of wallet transactions that are linked to a card increase 2.7 times. So it’s really increased quite dramatically since we’ve introduced Apple Pay for our consumer customers,” […]
UBank launches world’s first consumer Green Term Deposit certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative
UBank is now offering Australians with a sustainable way to invest with today’s launch of the world’s first Green Term Deposit in the customer space certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI). UBank’s Green Term Deposit is matched to a portfolio of renewable energy projects such as wind and solar power, and low carbon transport and buildings. It allows customers to use the savings in their term deposits to support a positive environmental impact, while still enjoying a high return. Certified by CBI, a not-for profit that has developed a standard for investments which address climate change, UBank’s Green Term Deposit is available to all customers with a minimum $1,000 […]
Identitii commences phase two with HSBC
Identitii Limited (ASX:ID8), the FinTech company enabling banks and corporates to securely exchange intelligent information in real-time, is pleased to announce further engagement with global tier one bank, HSBC Global Services (UK) Limited. Following the successful completion of phase one of its project with HSBC, a customer since 2017, Identitii has commenced work on phase two of the project under the existing Framework Agreement. Phase two will deliver additional functionality to support HSBC’s plans to roll out Identitii’s solution into multiple geographies. Identitii also expects phase two to drive increased consumption of data points (transactions) across its platform. Initially, phase two will generate additional revenue of up to US$480,000 for […]
PayPal now lets US users instantly transfer funds to bank accounts in seconds
PayPal, a longtime alternative to the direct use of cards, cash and bank transfers to make payments for goods online and in stores, is today adding a new feature to help it tap into a wider range of customers, such as gig economy workers and use cases — in competition not just against banks (and Zelle, a service that they back), but also younger upstarts like Stripe, Square and others chasing the same business. PayPal is launching Instant Transfer to bank, which will let those receiving money via PayPal instantly move that into their bank accounts to access as cash or however else they would like to use it. The […]
Digital bank Volt eyes business customers as fintechs chase data
Neobank Volt has small business in its sights as it develops data-driven products, acknowledging that startup founders are the most likely to take up digital banking options first. The startup, which secured a fully fledged banking licence in January and is preparing to launch a consumer offer in coming months, joins other financial technology firms in its quest to offer self-employed customers better products by reviewing their data in real time. Speaking from the sidelines of Salesforce’s World Tour event in Sydney on Wednesday, Volt chief executive Steve Weston said the business was looking at rolling out business transaction accounts, term deposits and business loans from 2020. “The tech community […]
Fintech investment doubled while Australian banks hammered
Investment in financial technology startups more than doubled last year while Australian banks came under intense public scrutiny for their treatment of customers. Globally, fintechs managed to attract US$26.7 billion investments in the 2017-18 year, which was 107 per cent more than the year before, according to Accenture analysis of CB Insights data. The increase could be directly attributed to fintech’s explosive growth in China, where the amount of money that went into the sector stunningly increased nine-fold. Its US$25.5 billion of capital raising in this nation alone almost matched the US$26.7 billion generated in the rest of the world. Australia saw similar growth with US$756.7 million total investment into […]
