Strip banks, credit cards of digital payment powers: Productivity Commission report
Australia’s biggest banks and global payments schemes must have self-regulatory powers covering digital payments and infrastructure access forcibly removed to dismantle a harmful oligopoly. That’s the radical call from the Productivity Commission’s inquiry report into Competition in the Australian Financial System. Released Friday, the in-your-face tome has left institutions and regulators reeling from the depth of criticism levelled at them. Describing Australia as having “an oligopolistic banking system” it’s a blueprint for an earthquake rather than a shake-up. $1.0 trillion restructure If implemented, the reforms would drastically restructure how payment flows of $1.0 trillion – yes trillion – would be regulated. It would also redefine the landscape for how tens […]
Laggard bank tech blasted by Treasurer, Productivity Commission
Treasurer Scott Morrison has taken a blowtorch to the slow pace of technology-driven reform in Australian banks, using the release of a blistering Productivity Commission report on financial system competition to vow the new Open Banking regime will be used to smash entrenched interests. In a speech delivered on Friday, the Treasurer doubled down on the need to catapult Australia’s nascent Fintech sector from a niche IT play to a feared competitor of existing banks, insurers and payment schemes by using the new Consumer Data Right contained in the last federal Budget. The Treasurer’s speech is the most explicit push yet to use consumers’ access to new technology and ownership […]
Morrison to fintechs: ‘Don’t stuff it up’
Treasurer Scott Morrison has told leaders of the fintech industry he’s counting on them “not to stuff up” the implementation of open banking because he wants the government’s new consumer data right to be a driver of competition and productivity gains across the economy. With the major banks lifting technology investment to fend off disruptive threats, Mr Morrison said he’s relying on start-ups to use his open banking and comprehensive credit reporting policies to increase pressure on the incumbents. “You are all in the business of financial technology disruption. I am in the business of policy disruption,” Mr Morrison said at Ashurst on Wednesday night. “I am frankly counting on […]
Trade Ledger wins Ashurst FinTech Startup of the Year at the 3rd Annual FinTech Awards
Digital banking platform start-up, Trade Ledger, has been named the Ashurst Fintech Startup of the Year after expanding into the UK market and signing up a series of major deals in just one year. The award goes each year to a fintech start-up “that has disrupted the financial services sector with new and innovative services, creating competition and transforming the way we experience financial services”. Trade Ledger has done this by being the first corporate lending platform in the world to automate the entire credit assessment process, assess SME supply chain data in real-time, and calculate risk down to the individual invoice. This allows banks and other business lenders to […]
BPAY Group named one of Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers for 2018
BPAY Group has today been named an Aon Hewitt Best Employer for 2018, following the release of its annual Employee Engagement survey. 84% – BPAY Group Employee Engagement Score 90% of BPAY Group employees completed the survey 68% – Aon Hewitt’s entry point for the highest performing quartile of all organisations in Australia and New Zealand 81% – Aon Hewitt’s Average Best Employer score in the region Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers program is Australia and New Zealand’s leading accreditation and research program looking at the people practices of high-performing organisations. John Banfield, BPAY Group CEO said, “BPAY Group is incredibly honoured to be named as an accredited 2018 Aon Best […]
How Bankwest Halo payment ring lets you leave the wallet at home
Bankwest customers across Australia are now able to tap and go using the Bankwest Halo, Australia’s first payment ring. The award-winning contactless payment ring, which is waterproof to 50m, has been produced as part of Bankwest’s focus on empowering customers with new and innovative ways to pay. Launched in January of this year, the device has been named the Most Innovative Card Product and the Most Innovative Retail Banking Product at the Australian Retail Banking Awards. Bankwest Managing Director Rowan Munchenberg said the ring had been developed in response to the changing needs of customers. “’Customers’ needs are always changing and in today’s digital world they increasingly expect smooth transactions […]
Morgan Stanley likes the look of Fintech these days
Many people these days are wondering where to put their investments these days, and there’s no shortage of options. Morgan Stanley, in fact, offered up one outlook that will be welcome to those of us out here: fintech is actually very attractive. Fintech, or financial technology, is a fairly broad frontier that covers just about everything from e-wallet systems to payment processors to even credit card companies. In fact, Morgan Stanley executive director James Faucette pointed out Visa and Mastercard as the kind of companies that could absorb virtually any negative development in the economy. Faucette also notes that investors are “…underestimating the secular push from digitization” and the growing […]
Open banking gains momentum
As open banking gains momentum, the future of the industry will see a move away from product offerings in favour of customer experience and engagement, a panel of industry experts told a Temenos conference. The panel of experts told the conference that technology has placed the industry in a constant phase of reform, and the move to open banking would see a significant shift away from the big four banks to address the needs of underfunded sectors like small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Piers Balmer from business lending funding service for SMEs, Judo Capital, said they no longer used the term ‘product’, and instead opted for terms like ‘engagement’ and […]
