The finalists for the 2nd Annual Australian FinTech Awards 2017
The 2nd Annual Australian FinTech Awards 2017 celebrate the achievements of the dynamic people and businesses comprising the FinTech sector. These Awards seek to recognise success in the FinTech sector in its many forms. This event will be an evening of celebrating the best innovation, created by the best innovators and entrepreneurs that live and work in Australia. Here are the finalists for the 2nd Annual Australian FinTech Awards 2017 to be held Thursday 22 June in Sydney: FinTech Innovation in payments Tyro Payments ZipMoney Afterpay FinTech Innovation in Wealth Management (Robo-Advice) Acorns Grow Australia Six Park Pocketbook FinTech Innovation in Lending SocietyOne MoneyMe Financial Group Tyro Payments […]
Big banks and fintech start-ups face up to Jack Ma’s mobile payments juggernaut Ant Financial
As Australia’s retailers steel themselves for the arrival of US online shopping giant Amazon, our banks are also set for a big disruption. They’re already staring down competition from small, home-grown digital financial start-ups, but there’s a much bigger threat on the horizon. Ant Financial is the financial services arm of the Chinese internet shopping giant Alibaba and boasts 450 million daily users worldwide. While Ant Financial says it wants to work with our banks, not against them, some are warning disruption from a global digital giant is inevitable, even if it doesn’t come from China. To find out more and hear the audio, please click on the link […]
Samsung Pay adds 38 more banks and credit unions in Australia
Almost two million more Australians will be able to use their smartphone as a credit card today in a move Samsung promised would take the country “a step closer” to ditching traditional wallets entirely. The smartphone giant will add 38 financial institutions to its Samsung Pay app, allowing customers from Credit Union Australia, Australian Unity and more to pay by tapping their smartphone or smartwatch at the cash register. Samsung Pay, which launched one year ago, is still trailing its Apple and Google rivals, but all three now offer payments from more than 40 institutions. Samsung Australia mobile division vice-president Richard Fink said the latest deal, secured with payment solutions […]
Tyro sticks to strategy as CEO Gerd Schenkel exits
It was back to business at Tyro Payments yesterday after the fintech elder severed links with chief executive Gerd Schenkel, who was hired amid great fanfare only eight months with a mission to transform Tyro into an SME bank. Tyro’s decision to target the poorly serviced SME sector was prompted by non-executive director and Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. Cannon-Brookes scolded his fellow board members for lacking ambition and being happy to live off the fat from unlisted Tyro’s payments platform, which generates $8 million-plus in earnings from servicing the EFTPOS requirements of its 18,000 small business customers. Instead of telling him to go jump, the board agreed. Tyro secured a […]
Success of innovation in Australia’s Financial Services lies in collaboration, not competition
Capgemini, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services, today announced the findings of a report published by The Australian Digital Transformation Lab, a joint venture between the University of Sydney Business School and Capgemini. The report finds that while Financial Technology (Fintech) firms are seeking to disrupt the larger players, moving forward, the opportunity in financial services is based on collaboration rather than competition. The emerging Fintech industry and Australia’s traditional banking sector are being urged to work together in order to innovate in ways that allow them to survive the looming threat posed by so called ‘Big Tech’ companies such as Apple and Amazon. It is therefore […]
Fintech a vertical integration disruptor – ASIC
Vertical integration, particularly with respect to the major banks, is likely to be eroded by financial service technology, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chairman, Greg Medcraft. Giving evidence before Senate Estimates, Medcraft said he believed the banks were starting to realise that owning something and cross-selling was probably not a viable strategy anymore. Asked by Tasmanian Green Senator, Peter Whish-Wilson whether vertical integration was being addressed in line with the recommendations of the Murray Review, Medcraft said he believed progress was being made. Whish-Wilson also asked whether the financial services technology changes had been a factor in ANZ’s decision to exit some of its wealth management business. […]
Moroku’s distribution deal aimed at small merchants overlooked by banks
As fintech niches like lending and payments rapidly become commoditised, the addition of value-added services is a prerequisite for survival. Local fintech Moroku’s distribution deal for its advanced point-of-sale software Marrakash is the latest example. Marrakash’s value for AEVI, a subsidiary of the world’s biggest ATM and POS supplier Diebold Nixdorf of Germany, is not so much vanilla payments as the software’s ability to integrate business, products, customers and payments systems into a single platform. It enables small to medium-sized businesses in the food and hospitality, retail and financial services industries to display a full product catalogue, create customer loyalty schemes and take secure card payments on the go. The […]
NAB makes play for digital wallets
National Australia Bank will soon announce the next stage of the digital wallet market by launching an Android Pay service. NAB is said to be close to quitting the consortium of banks that unsuccessfully pitched to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to collectively negotiate with Apple, forcing the tech giant to open up the iPhone’s near-field communication antenna to their own digital wallets. With the competition watchdog having determined that collective negotiations were likely to reduce or distort competition, the suggestion is that NAB, like ANZ, is ready to go its own way and do a deal with Apple. The truth is that NAB is edging closer to an […]
