Fintech funding pressures banks
The big banks’ allegedly sluggish adoption of a regime to boost the flow of credit data among financial services companies will come under the spotlight of the Productivity Commission as the federal government steps up efforts to stimulate the burgeoning fintech industry. Scott Morrison yesterday revealed a range of measures to support financial technology companies, including cutting GST on digital currencies, such as bitcoin, and clarifying tax concessions for venture capital (VC) investments in fintech start-ups. The Treasurer also commissioned the Productivity Commission to review so-called comprehensive credit reporting and “outline options to increase data availability”, strengthening its scrutiny of the regime. “Fintech advances have the potential to radically transform […]
Start-ups to banks: Wake up, Australia
It is Australia’s great sense of complacency that has opened the big four banks up to competition from an array of fintech disruptors, who are forming their own ecosystems to challenge the majors. That was the key message from a panel of financial technology players at a business conference yesterday who argued that the $30 billion of net profits made by the banking oligopoly each year made them a fair target. “Bluntly, the Australian consumer gets screwed at every single step of the way — credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, credit card fees,” says Mitchel Harad of the peer-to-peer lender, SocietyOne, whose backers include Kerry Stokes, James Packer, and […]
A quarter of bank revenue may be lost to disrupters: PwC
Incumbent banks throughout the world are bracing for the loss of almost a quarter of their revenue to financial technology disrupters during the next five years, a global survey by PwC has found. PwC’s global fintech report, published on Tuesday, finds 95 per cent of bankers believe at least some of their business will be given up to fintech players in the coming years. PwC’s Asia Fintech leader, John Shipman, said he was surprised the number wasn’t 100 per cent. “Almost all of the financial services clients I’ve spoken to acknowledge that fintechs either now or very shortly will have the ability to disrupt the majority of their business,” Mr […]
Fintech the next wave of growth
This is an interesting opinion piece by Australia’s Treasurer, Mr Scott Morrison who says that Australia’s fintech sector can play a vital role in aiding the positive transition that is occurring in the national economy. “At the recent World Economic Forum it was noted that 90 per cent of the data we use today has been created in the past two years. The ability of new technology to capture and process data, in real time, is changing how business is done, how products and services are conceived in the new economy and the way consumers participate in this process. Financial technology, or fintech, is lubricating this transformation. The catalytic impacts […]
SocietyOne sees potential to work with banks
The new chief executive of SocietyOne, Jason Yetton, says there is potential for the peer-to-peer lender to work with a big bank such as Westpac, his former employer, as it tries to distribute loans to a wider range of customers. SocietyOne is one of the emerging group of “marketplace lenders”, which are eyeing off the profits that banks make from unsecured lending, by using online platforms to allow investors to lend directly to borrowers. P2P lenders typically promote themselves as a lower-cost option for borrowers, prompting banks to consider their defences against the new online threat. Mr Yetton, who previously ran Westpac’s retail and business bank, will also use his […]
Macquarie considers US fintech deals, but ‘risk retention’ a worry
Macquarie Bank is looking at a host of possible new online lending partners globally, but is worried regulators are closing in on the new players. Ben Perham, head of strategy and corporate development at Macquarie, said like most banks, it is exploring deals with the various new lenders, including the many small business lenders and P2P lenders. “We are [looking at] collaborating with US lenders and on the equity side as well,” he said. “We are hoping to partner with them and get some of their activities into Australia.” But he pointed out that many originate and make the risk assessment on loans, but then sell them off completely, and […]
ANZ boss Shayne Elliott hot for start-up investments as it partners with Honcho
ANZ Banking Group has partnered with Sydney-based Honcho to fast-track customer small business registrations, as new boss Shayne Elliott drives the bank to work more closely with technology start-ups. ANZ’s managing director of corporate and commercial banking, Mark Hand, says ANZ is open to investing equity into fintech start-ups. It could establish a referral relationship with an online business lender, similar to the arrangement Westpac has with Prospa and Commonwealth Bank of Australia has with OnDeck. After Mr Elliott said he wanted his legacy to be defined by digital banking and criticised ANZ’s siloed approach to technological innovation in an interview with BOSS magazine earlier this month, Mr Hand said […]
Reserve Bank says Australian dollars could come in digital form in future
Death of the cheque and the rise of Bitcoin? FinTech is certainly gaining momentum in Australia with the RBA hinting at digital dollars, or a form of Bitcoin, in the future is quite a possibility. It is entirely possible that Australian dollars will come in digital form in the future, breaking the link entirely between material notes and coins, the Reserve Bank says. In a speech where he also flagged the end of the cheque, Mr Richards said the RBA had been watching the growth in demand for privately-established virtual currencies like Bitcoin, and believed there was a place for a central-bank-issued digital currency in Australia. It thinks digital […]
