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 […]
Neobanks are coming: What the revolution means for you
For the first time the big four Australian banks are about to face several new challengers at once as a group of ‘neobanks’ promise to change the way you manage your money. Eric Wilson was a senior executive at NAB, getting nagged by his father-in-law, a former bank manager for the Bank of New South Wales when he decided he’d had enough. “He used to always say to me ‘Eric, why is banking like this? It used to be about people but now it’s just about screwing people for as much money as they can,” Wilson tells Your Money. “Eventually I had a bit of an epiphany when I was […]
What is open banking and how will it affect you?
Open banking is being phased in from July 2019, making it easier for you to switch banks and get a better deal. It could even result in fintechs being a more viable option for you over a traditional bank. But what is open banking exactly, how much control will it give you over your own data, and what are banks doing about potential privacy issues? What is open banking? You might not be familiar with the terms ‘open data’ or ‘open banking’. They relate to another concept most Australians might not have heard of – the Consumer Data Right. The issue of who owns a consumer’s data – the consumer […]
Banking royal commission interim report: Banks to tap each other’s account data
There’s a clear takeaway for the fintech scene from the banking royal commission’s interim report: the major banks will have to get much more sophisticated accessing and analysing spending data generated by customers. In the wake of Commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s blockbuster report, data policy inside the banks is no longer going to be viewed solely through the prism of customer experience but also of regulatory compliance. The ability to tap reliable data sources held outside the bank, and making sense of those numbers, will become a mission critical function for all banks. This means spending on data analytics technology is set to rise, and banks are likely to accelerate engagement […]
Moody’s expects consumer technology giants to be major disruptors in financial services
Moody’s Investors Service expects large technology firms like Google, Facebook and Apple to continue expanding their ability to distribute and offer financial products and services, emerging as significant competitors to traditional consumer-facing financial institutions. The greatest risk to incumbent financial firms is retail-facing technology giants taking control of customer relationships and distribution of financial products, according to a report Moody’s released on Tuesday. Technology-focused companies can enter finance with products core to their businesses, such as payments, that can create and store value — just as Square did with its Cash App. As account balances grow, technology firms can easily start offering low-cost index funds, investment advice, insurance and financial […]
