Australians quick to embrace fintech financial solutions
One third of Australians believe they’ll use a tech company for the majority of their financial needs within five years. While many people around the world feel they need to stick with their bank, out of a sense of loyalty, or simply because they’re unaware of their options, this isn’t the case in Australia. Australians are among the most likely to seek alternatives to the mainstream banks, according to TransferWise’s Future of Finance Report, out today, which surveyed 20,000 people around the world. The report also revealed Australians are early adopters of fintech solutions; that is, anything from PayPass and Tap and Go contactless payments to digital wallets such as […]
Xinja emerges from budget shadows as potential new start-up bank
Less than a fortnight since the federal budget introduced reforms to facilitate the entry of startup banks in Australia, Xinja has emerged as the first to attempt to build a new bank for digital natives from the mobile phone up. Xinja (the name was made up by a creative type) has just completed a seed raising of almost $3 million and is talking to regulators about gaining a restricted banking licence. The application will use streamlined licensing procedures announced by the government in the budget and the prudential regulator the following day. “We are building full-service retail banking in your mobile phone,” says Eric Wilson, Xinja’s founder and chief executive […]
An Australian fintech is letting ‘bankless’ Filipinos pay without handling cash
Australian fintech Peppermint Innovation has signed a partnership deal in the Philippines to provide mobile payment services to locals that don’t have bank accounts but do have a phone. The ASX-listed company announced its new partnership with SUNMar Express Global Services, which will see the Filipino company white-label Peppermint’s technologies, on Thursday. Peppermint chief executive Chris Kain told Business Insider many Australians wouldn’t realise there are “hundreds of millions” of people in neighbouring countries that don’t possess a bank account. “Because the country is spread over thousands of islands, the Philippines has one of the lowest rates of account ownership in the region. More than two thirds of Filipinos are […]
NAB-owned UBank launches robot to sell home loans
In a first for an Australian bank, NAB-owned UBank has launched an artificial intelligence “chatbot” for home loans. Using IBM Watson’s supercomputer technology, it aims to reduce the time it takes to complete an application for a home loan, by providing real-time answers to questions that is available 24/7. Called RoboChat, it has been trained using data collected from customer questions and will continue to learn as more customers engage with it, becoming smarter and more user-friendly over time. Users ask it questions such as “what term do you offer on home loans” and “do you offer redraws and how do they work”, with RoboChat offering on-the-spot help. A handful […]
Aussies getting ‘fleeced’ by major banks, says HashChing
A recent analysis conducted by the online mortgage marketplace has claimed that borrowers with the big four are paying up to $90,000 more than they need to for their home loans. By comparing the fixed and variable rates offered by the big four banks with those available through the HashChing platform, the analysis revealed it was possible to save up to $90,000 over the life of a home loan. HashChing pointed out that according to the RBA, one-third of borrowers have less than a month’s worth of breathing room around their mortgage, with millions of Australians at risk of falling behind on their payments. Commenting on the findings, HashChing CEO […]
Budget’s big bank levy could open the door for fintech lenders
In the 2017 Budget announcement, Treasurer Scott Morrison announced a 0.06% annual levy on key funding sources for Australia’s major banks – a cost that could be passed on to Aussie borrowers and may drive them toward alternate lending sources. The levy will apply to funding sources such as corporate bonds and large deposits and will only affect banks with debts above $100 billion – effectively limiting it to big players the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ and Macquarie. “This represents a fair contribution to the community from our major banks, is consistent with other advanced countries and helps foster competition from smaller banks,” according to budget papers. If it […]
Banks and fintechs want robust data-sharing standards
Both big banks and fintech start-ups want robust governance standards created to ensure customers can move data from one financial services provider to another without exposing the sector to cyber attacks. Banks are preparing for new legislation that will give their customers the right to request transaction data be given to a potential competitor under a new data access regime the Productivity Commission said this week could “reinvigorate competition policy”. The Productivity Commission’s final report on data use and availability, published on Monday, set out aggressive timelines for the creation of a “comprehensive right” in a new law designed to empower individuals and businesses throughout the economy to make better […]
SocietyOne welcomes proposed changes to an open banking and data regime
SocietyOne, Australia’s pioneering and leading lending marketplace, has welcomed the Turnbull Government’s commitment to introduce an open banking regime which could transform customers’ control over their own data and stimulate competition in the country’s financial services sector. Coming after the release of the Productivity Commission’s report into data availability and use of public and private sector data, Jason Yetton, SocietyOne’s Managing Director and CEO, said the initiatives, announced in last night’s Federal Budget, would put consumers in a better position to negotiate more advantageous deals with their credit provider. The changes – likely to result from an independent commission which is due to report by the end of […]
