This Aussie fintech is now helping give banking services to rural communities in Syria
Novatti Group Limited, an online financial transactions processor and financial technology developer, announces it has entered into a supply agreement with Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi (BBSF). Novatti has entered into the supply agreement with BBSF to supply its agency banking services and mobile payments platform. BBSF is a leading and trusted bank among Non-Government Organisations (NGO’s) that has been operating in accordance with global banking standards providing retail-banking services for 14 years. Under the NGO umbrella, a key program of the bank is to enable distribution of financial aid to rural consumers within Syria, most of who are not catered for in the current banking space. The platform being supplied […]
Comprehensive credit reporting laws will drive innovation and protect banks
In the blue corner, lining up to support the bill to ensure customer repayment history is provided in credit reports, are: the government, all of the banks, the entire fintech industry, the credit bureaus, the regulators (especially the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority), and many equivalent western economies such as the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand. In the red corner, lining up against it, are consumer groups and the Labor party. At the last election, Labor also supported “comprehensive credit reporting” like nearly everyone else, but this month decided to back a 12-month delay to the reporting of “repayment history information”, which sits at the core of the regime. Positions […]
NAB’s UBank to ‘use technology as a weapon’
National Australia Bank says its digital bank UBank will take advantage of the government’s ‘open banking’ reforms by developing new ‘platforms’ that will connect users to a broad range of financial services – not necessarily NAB’s – which could open up new revenue streams. NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn described the open data reforms as “potentially a transformational-type change” and said in an interview NAB is planning to “use technology as a weapon, not just a tool of commerce”. NAB created UBank a decade ago; its customer base has grown to 400,000, half are Millennials, and only a small minority are existing NAB customers. NAB is lifting investment in UBank […]
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 […]
