IRESS dismisses Intelliflo threat, ups AI investment following royal commission
Financial software company IRESS has dismissed the threat of new market entrant Intelliflo, with chief executive Andrew Walsh saying the local marketplace is already competitive and values IRESS’s independence. IRESS, which is valued at $2.1 billion and generated $430 million in revenue in the last financial year, is also making significant investments in artificial intelligence. About half of its 1800 employees are now part of its technology team, and this could increase on the back of the Hayne royal commission. “What we’ve seen in aspects of the royal commission is collecting data to respond to the commands of the commission has been a massive exercise for some businesses. But the […]
The crypto community isn’t happy with a negative report by the ‘bank for central banks’
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has weighed in on the crypto debate, and it was less than positive. The aim of the BIS is to foster global financial stability, and it’s owned by 60 central banks across the world. In that sense, the BIS also describes itself as the bank for central banks. Given that one of the stated aims of crypto is to disrupt the status quo of centrally controlled currencies, it’s perhaps not surprising that the BIS was critical. The report said crypto networks get less efficient the bigger they get. Along with scaling issues, they’re also volatile and subject to stability threats due to forks. […]
Verrency signs long-term innovation services deal with volt bank
Australian global payments innovation provider Verrency has signed a significant long-term deal with volt bank, Australia’s first independent 100% digital bank. The multi-year agreement enables volt bank to leverage Verrency’s cloud-based payments innovation platform and services marketplace to enable cost-effective delivery of a multitude of value-added services to its customers. The agreement comes on the back of Verrency being named FinTech Australia’s winner of the 2018 Excellence in Establishing a Global Market Presence. David Link, Founder and CEO, Verrency, said: “Verrency will enable volt bank to rapidly and cost-effectively deliver value-added services to Australian consumers – including via easy connection with multiple service providers – without requiring significant change in their […]
Australia’s mobile wallet Beem It eschews new fast-payments platform in favor of debit rails
Beem It, a startup owned by three of Australia’s largest banks, has launched a free real-time social payments app designed to run on older debit networks instead of the country’s new faster payments platform. Market research commissioned by Beem It indicates that, because of unpaid small debts between friends, Australia’s national unpaid “mate” debt is worth A$6.2 billion. To get around the embarrassment of asking a friend for repayment, Beem It offers the ability to request money through an app. Rather than use the New Payments Platform (NPP), Australia’s faster payments system, Beem It links to users’ debit cards as a means of achieving scale. “There are about 43 million […]
Westpac ends Prospa deal as banks plan more unsecured SME lending
Westpac Banking Corp has ended its referral relationship with Prospa, a sign major banks are preparing to ramp up unsecured small business lending to try to regain some of the market that has been surrendered to start-ups. After Prospa indefinitely postponed its ASX listing last week amid questions on whether its loan contracts breached new laws, the online business lender faces more intense competition from big banks who are developing new products to lend more to small business without requiring residential property to be pledged as security. “We did not continue our contract with Prospa because we are working on developing our own products that will satisfy more of our […]
Mortgage group’s “mortgage hell” billboard above CBA
Online mortgage startup HashChing is advertising with a billboard above a Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) branch. The home loan marketplace has launched a campaign against the big banks, which includes this billboard in the Melbourne CBD. The slogan reads, “Our brokers will go to mortgage hell, so you don’t have to”. Mandeep Sodhi, CEO of HashChing, said the new billboard made light of the fact that applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing one can be quite an onerous experience. He added, “By positioning this billboard above a CBA branch, we’re encouraging the 80% of borrowers who are currently with a big four bank to find a better […]
How AI is becoming an asset to the finance industry
As AI transforms an increasing number of domains, players in the finance industry are moving fast to keep pace. While many people are aware of the term artificial intelligence (AI), this is largely in relation to the more extreme use-cases of AI such as flying cars and Sophia the AI robot. Yet, much of our contact of AI – and our understanding of it – revolves around products that affect our everyday lives as consumers. An example of this is within the finance industry. Many key players are leveraging the power of AI to improve their services. Here are three ways AI is disrupting the finance industry: Customer service chatbots […]
Banks face a bigger threat than rival banks as customers seek best experience
Innovation and media specialist Tom Goodwin had some pertinent advice for companies, big and small, during a recent visit to Australia from New York. If banks think they are competing with other banks in terms of the functionality and appearance of their app, they are wrong. Ditto for airlines if they believe they are in competition only with rival airlines. In an increasingly connected world, argues Goodwin, consumers’ expectations are being set by the best experience anywhere. He says: “Increasingly, when we experience something amazing, it sets the bar for everyone. You get off the plane in Shanghai and you can see your Uber driver’s face and his name and […]
