The royal commission sparked anger at the big banks. Bitcoin’s not the only alternative.
In the wake of the banking royal commission, many people are fed up with the big institutions, and are hunting for alternatives. But the growing number of options — everything from stashing your money under the mattress to investing in cryptocurrency or switching to a credit union — can be pretty overwhelming. And if you’re thinking of completely ghosting your bank, it might not really be feasible — yet. “In Australia our entire payment system is mediated through the major banks … essentially you have to go through a bank to pay for anything,” says Brendan Markey-Towler, an economist and researcher with RMIT’s Blockchain Innovation Hub. But, he adds: “Watch […]
Telstra and CBA partner on 5G banking trials
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is kicking off trials of 5G banking and edge computing thanks to a partnership with Telstra and Ericsson announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019. Under the collaboration, Telstra, CBA, and Ericsson will test “end-to-end banking solutions over 5G” during the next few months, the companies told media on Sunday in Barcelona. Speaking with ZDNet, Ericsson ANZ head Emilio Romeo said some of the 5G use cases that the trial will look at include exploring different network architectures such as network slicing, dynamic orchestration, and control use plane separation. Network slices on demand would be particularly useful for enabling enterprise customers such as banks to […]
Apple Pay goes plastic: Goldman Sachs and Apple partner on new credit card launch
The Apple and Goldman Sachs joint credit card could be hitting the market soon. After announcing last year that the tech giant and Wall Street firm would be launching an Apple Pay credit card, the Wall Street Journal reports that employee testing of the product should begin within the coming weeks. Both companies are looking to expand their consumer base, and this new Apple Pay credit card just might be their ticket. Apple has long been a tech favorite among the Millennial crowd, but they are beginning to shift their focus to other products and services as iPhone sales start to lose steam. To read more, please click on […]
40-50 banks expected to use Stellar (XLM) use in coming months
Put Tuesday 1.40am (UTC) on 19 March in your calendar of major Stellar Lumens events. Speaking to Finder at IBM Think 2019, IBM head of blockchain Jesse Lund revealed that 40-50 banks are expected to join the Stellar-based IBM World Wire service in the near future. “We’ve got a launch announcement coming out soon… we’re going to be supporting more than 50 countries out of the gate, 30-40 currencies, and enough market makers to drag along 30 or 40 banks, so we’ll have a significant portion of the world covered,” he explained. Several banks have already confirmed that they plan to issue digital assets, including stablecoins of their own, through […]
FinTech opportunities to come from Australia’s Royal Commission
Australia is currently holding a Royal Commission into the banking sector and it’s fair to say that what has been uncovered so far has rocked both the public, the industry and policy makers alike. The Royal Commission has uncovered a culture of big business not acting in the best interests of their customers, which appears to especially be the case for large institutions. For example, AMP one of Australia’s largest financial institutions, deliberately mislead the regulator on several occasions and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has had several issues including criminal offences and has paid more than 700 million dollars fine to the regulator over a number of breaches over […]
Trust deficit means fintechs will fly
Leading fintech founders believe the fallout from The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry is a great opportunity for them to wrest market share from the major banks. They believe their existing focus on customers is a serious competitive advantage they can exploit as mainstream financial services businesses reposition their operations subsequent to the release of the final report last week. Jason Wilby, director of insurtech Huddle Insurance, says for too long, there has been an imbalance of power in the financial services sector. “Now is the time for new and emerging fintechs to flip the financial services industry on its head, for the […]
Peppermint collaborates with BancNet on Mobile Banking
Peppermint Innovation Ltd (ASX:PIL) advises it has teamed up with BancNet to provide their mobile banking technology and services that facilitate electronic fund transfers (EFT’s) in real time to BancNet member outsourcing banks. BancNet is the Philippines single Automated Teller Machines (ATM) switch operator connecting the networks of local and offshore banks. It is a multi-bank, multi-channel electronic payments network that enables its members’ customers to transact not only at ATM but also at point- of- sale (POS) terminals, the Internet and mobile phones. BancNet is the largest interbank network in the Philippines serving ATM cardholders of its 114 members and affiliates with circa 20,000 ATMs and more than 5,000 […]
JPMorgan Chase to create digital coin using blockchain
JPMorgan Chase plans to launch its own digital coin, called “JPM Coin”, that customers will be able to use for instant transfer of payments over a blockchain network. The largest US bank by assets said customers, on depositing money at the bank, will be issued the cryptocurrency that can be used for transactions over the network with other JPMorgan clients. The coin can be redeemed for a US dollar, so its value will largely remain stable, the bank said. When one client sends money to another over the blockchain, JPM Coins are transferred and instantaneously redeemed for the equivalent amount of US dollars, reducing the typical settlement time, the bank […]
