Eftpos gets Square as battle for mobile payments escalates
Mobile tradies and small businesses seeking to bypass steep credit card fees extracted by bank-owned payments terminals have scored a significant victory, with challenger payments provider Square revealing it has now ported eftpos functionality to its Australian machines. Made official on Monday, the tie-up between Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s global payments play Australia’s 30-something electronic payments scheme opens the door for millions of people holding everyday bank payment cards fitted with contactless functionality to avoid the dreaded Amex. While it might seem like an incremental retrofit, the realpolitik of the eftpos-Squarer hook-up is actually way bigger. It means an untapped army of smaller merchants – think dog washers, craft brewers, […]
How the open banking API could transform financial services to benefit consumers
Until recently, the idea of waiting a day or two for a bank transfer to reach your account was normal, however consumers are starting to demand immediate and seamless payment alternatives. With upcoming developments in the Australian financial services sector, we should start to see these demands met – if not by banks, then by FinTech firms aiming to transform the financial services industry. Twelve months after the government announced the introduction of a Consumer Data Right (CDR) in Australia, Data61 has released a working draft of the standards that will underpin it. The CDR will offer Australians control over the data held about them by service providers, and the […]
Would you bank with Google, Amazon, Facebook or Apple?
Soon, going into a bank branch to speak to the manager about getting a loan will be as outdated as driving to Blockbuster to rent a VHS cassette. Banking in Australia will increasingly be digitised over the coming years, as neo-banking looks set to disrupt Australia’s financial industry. What’s a neo-bank? Neo-banks are digital-only banks that don’t have physical branches or rely on legacy operating systems; in other words, they’re not just the digital front of a traditional bank. There are smaller local neo-banks emerging, but the ones that are poised to make the most impact are the big tech behemoths Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon (GAFA). But will neo-banking be […]
Banks must reshape to survive compliance and technology crunches
KPMG and EY highlight Australia’s big four banks must balance ongoing compliance costs with continued spending in technology or face being left behind when it comes to innovation. In their post FY18 analysis of Australian bank results, KPMG and EY point to several compliance and technology headwinds facing the sector and suggest cost discipline will be a major focus. It means more restructures and simplifications. KPMG partner, banking strategy, Hessel Verbeek said not only have various compliance and remediation costs translated into higher cost-to-income ratios, “the majors’ investment spend in risk and compliance projects is also up strongly and in most cases investments on growth initiatives has decreased in a […]
Regulation alone won’t solve financial advice woes
By George Lucas, chief executive of Raiz More regulation will be the most likely result after the Hayne royal commission hands down its final report. But is this really the answer? When then financial services royal commission hands down its final report by 1 February 2019, it’s odds-on it will call for more regulation. And the government of the day will duly oblige, rightly fearing the political fallout if it fails to implement the report’s recommendations in the wake of the malevolent behaviour being unveiled. The legislation will pass the Parliament, giving the regulators more power to keep the top end of town in line. And the regulators, whose reputations […]
The opportunity of open banking
Open banking is set to reshape the way customers access their data and banks and other financial institutions are now getting ready to start implementing the system from next year. Australia’s four major banks must have implemented an open banking standard by 1 July 2019 and other banks will need to follow by the same time in 2020. One company, which has been working with open banking before it even began, said the regime will make things much easier. MoneyTree launched in Tokyo, Japan, six years ago based on the idea customers should have better access to their data. It started with a personal finance app which categorised users’ spending […]
How Westpac is investing in fintechs and spending $1 billion on digital transformation
Westpac’s annual results show how far the bank has gone to transform itself into a digital showcase and how it has been heavily investing in the rise of disrupting fintechs. Out of a total investment of $1.4 billion, the bank spent more than $800 million in system upgrades, digital transformation, and innovation. CEO Brian Hartzer says the focus has been on delivering technology platforms, while simplifying and automating processes to make banking easier. “We have already migrated 100 applications onto our cloud infrastructure platforms which are now largely complete,” he says. “Additionally we have over 120 APIs in production and another 180 in development.” Among digital initiatives are Siri for […]
Neobanks are about to explode onto the Australian market
A number of restricted banking licences are expected to be issued to aspiring neobank startups by Australian authorities in the next few months. A raft of fintech players, including Xinja and Up, have already completed detailed applications to the prudential regulator APRA. The first licence went to Volt in May this year, creating another bank in Australia for the first time in 28 years. Since then, key players have been working to complete the regulatory hurdles to be able to call themselves a bank. APRA hasn’t a timetable for an announcement of new restricted authorised deposit-taking institution (RADI) licences but several startups expect an announcement shortly. The new restricted licence […]
