Personal loan applications surge as credit cards wane
Australians are shunning high interest credit cards and turning to personal loans for large purchases. Driving the switch are tech-savvy consumers taking up loans from peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders, a new breed of online competitors to banks. Credit card applications fell by almost 4 per cent in the March 2017 quarter compared with the same quarter last year, the latest report on consumer credit by credit bureau Equifax shows. That’s the biggest fall since September 2012 quarter. Personal loan applications rose by 13.5 per cent over the same period, the biggest increase since the March 2005 quarter. The latest period of sustained growth in personal loan applications started in the second […]
Apple Pay leads Digital Wallet usage
Usage of Apple Pay for contactless payments is set to nearly double in 2017, with significantly more users than both Google and Samsung’s digital wallets. Data from Juniper Research indicates Apple Pay will have 86 million contactless users by the end of this year, ahead of the 34 million users of Samsung Pay and 24 million users of Android Pay. Combined, the three digital wallets will surpass 100 million contactless users in the first half of 2017, before surging to over 150 million by the end of the year. Juniper noted that, while Apple will continue to dominate, growth is expected to continue for all three digital wallets, which increased […]
Westpac customers can now use Samsung Pay
Westpac has today announced their debit and credit card holders can now use Samsung Pay – a first move from the big bank outside their own app and payment technology. While they may have been fighting to collectively bargain with Apple for access to Apple Pay it seems Westpac were happy to jump on board Samsung’s digital wallet offering access to their customers and becoming the first major bank to support Samsung Pay. Alongside Citibank and AMEX, Westpac customers can add their debit and credit cards to access tap and go payments from their phone or Samsung smart watch. Richard Fink, Vice President, Mobile Division at Samsung Australia said: “We […]
Perth fintech Peppermint Innovation provides payment services to the unbanked in the Philippines
There is much to debate about the growth of Australia’s startup ecosystem, but it is a truth almost universally (well, in Australia, at least) acknowledged that the local fintech sector is doing well, bolstered by government support and corporate involvement. While most startups look to develop sophisticated products and services to tackle problems across every niche imaginable in the sector for savvy local consumers and companies, Perth fintech Peppermint Innovation thought there were significant opportunities to be found with those entirely new to banking. Founded by brothers Chris and Anthony Kain, who grew up in the small town of Narrogin, the company is providing mobile remittance services to the unbanked […]
Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer pledges bigger tech start-up focus
Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer has said the ability of the bank to partner, acquire and invest in the growing band of emerging fintech start-ups will become increasingly central to the bank’s future survival. Speaking at the annual Australian summit of US cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services in Sydney on Wednesday morning, Mr Hartzer sought to demonstrate how the 200-year-old institution has evolved to adapt first to changing scientific and technological advances throughout its history. However, he conceded that the bank had recognised that it could no longer expect to compete with the advancing capabilities offered by new technologies, without aggressively targeting the start-up sector. “We can adopt techniques […]
Banks must partner to win disruption battle
Colin Barnard, industry leader for finance at Google Australia, has some good news for the nation’s banks. “I don’t think Google ever really wants to become a bank,” he told The Australian Financial Review Banking and Wealth Summit in Sydney on Wednesday. But Mr Barnard also had a warning for financial services companies that believe they can see off the army of disrupters on their own. “You can partner and become rich, or you can be lonely and be poor, and eventually die,” he said. The sentiment was echoed by Helen Lorigan, who is an advisory board member of fintech start-ups HashChing and Investfit and is a venture partner of […]
Fintech no threat yet to big banks: ACCC
The hopes are high that a wave of new fintech players will shake up the big banks and get a better outcome for customers. But we’re not seeing it yet, according to the competition watchdog. “There’s been a lot of talk [about fintech] but not much really happening,” Rod Sims, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said at The Australian Financial Review Banking and Wealth Summit. “Let’s hope something does … nothing is happening that is changing the playing field very much.” The role of the ACCC in creating a more competitive landscape in banking has become a hot button issue. A parliamentary inquiry into banking pointed to a regulator […]
ACCC says Apple Pay will boost card competition
Apple Pay’s ability to toggle through different payment cards was seen as pro-competitive by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and became one of the key factors leading the regulator to favour Apple over the banks. In an interview with The Australian Financial Review after the ACCC knocked back an application by the banks to collectively negotiate with Apple over access to the iPhone’s “near field communication” (NFC) controller, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the banks’ arguments that such access could increase competition for digital wallets were “strong” – but the regulator always has to be cautious about intervening in markets. At a time when the industry is looking for […]
