Have you got your tickets to LendIt Europe 2017? It’s Europe’s largest global fintech & lending conference
LendIt Europe 2017 is Europe’s largest global fintech and lending conference, and returns to London on October 9-10, 2017. This year’s conference is expanding with the industry to cover the hottest topics in fintech including digital wealth, blockchain, insurtech, digital banking, and much more. Nowhere else can you meet 250+ industry leaders, 150+ investors and 1,000+ attendees from fintech companies, investment firms, banks, service providers, regulators and the media from across Europe and beyond. With six tracks of content including Innovations in Lending, Investor Insights, Policy & Regulation, as well as our PitchIt startup competition, there is content for everyone. You can now save 15% with Australian FinTech! Simply enter […]
Lindsay Tanner, ex-Sydney Swan Ted Richards at Six Park
It would not ordinarily be assumed that former Rudd and Gillard finance minister Lindsay Tanner, and former Sydney Swans AFL star Ted Richards, have much in common, but both have graduated from being heavyweights in their respective fields to unlikely employees at a young fintech start-up, Six Park. The Melbourne-based robo-advice company is plotting to undercut the banks and other rivals through lower fees and smarter financial advice, and is building out a powerhouse team — and app — to do it. It aims to add a human touch to automated elements through an advisory board that supervises the investments. “I’ve never been in a start-up before, but it’s a […]
Fintech saves British businesses £4.6 billion
The UK fintech market is booming, leading the way for the rest of world as investment continues to strengthen. Fintech is making an entrance into a majority of UK businesses, with 65 per cent found to be bringing on board at least one service, and 77 per cent aware of opportunities. A significant number of firms are going further than just testing the fintech water, with 19 per cent now leveraging four solutions from the emerging market. This information has been collected and presented by MarketInvoice, from which it has estimated that UK businesses have saved £4.6 billion by adopting fintech. Savings are a driving factor for businesses looking to […]
A Central Bank blockchain could make other banks obsolete
Will banks like ANZ and Westpac go the way of the record store? Professor David Yermack from NYU Stern School of Business thinks so. He argues it’s only a matter of time before Central Banks withdraw banknotes from circulation and put the national currency into an electronic blockchain rending other banks “unnecessary”. The distributed ledger technology promises to give Central Banks much greater control over national currencies and could put an end to money laundering and tax evasion, argues Yermack, who counts bitcoin and cryptocurrencies among his areas of expertise. “It’s not a question of if but when a country will do this. And my expectation is that the benefits […]
Sexiest Job of the 21st Century: Data Scientist
Data miner? Web analyst? Information wrangler? Harvard Business Review[1] labelled it the “sexiest job of the 21st Century” and the opportunities are exploding and salaries rocketing for astute professionals choosing “data science” as their career. As industries and governments worldwide race into the era of Big Data, James Cook University (JCU) is giving its students a head start with a fast, fully online and keenly priced Master of Data Science that offers students a potentially rapid return on their investment. Graduates will enjoy up-to-the-minute skills in the scientific methods, systems and processes used to unlock the secrets hidden in data. This ability to deliver insights and solutions by analysing data will give graduates an edge […]
IRESS invests in leading Australian RegTech Lucsan
Australian technology leaders, IRESS and Lucsan, today announced a partnership that will accelerate the application of RegTech in the financial services landscape. IRESS is making an equity investment in Lucsan: an established, Australian-owned RegTech and data analytics company providing leading technology solutions to a wide range of companies, including Australia’s major banks. Lucsan’s vision is to help financial institutions proactively reduce the ongoing cost of compliance and implement improved practices with its RegTech solutions. The minority equity position will support Lucsan’s own growth strategy as it focuses on expanding its business in Australia and more broadly into international markets. Equity investments by IRESS IRESS was founded in Melbourne in […]
Acorns Australia chief George Lucas on the challenges facing Aussie fintechs, and the future of the industry
Since launching its fintech offerings early last year, Acorns Australia has been embraced by consumers looking for alternatives to traditional financial institutions, but its chief executive and director George Lucas says Australia still has a way to go to improve innovation and support for startups in the space. Acorns is an app that allows users to invest their spare change in five diversified investment portfolios by automatically ’rounding up’ leftovers from small transactions like daily coffee purchases, incrementally investing these roundups and allowing users to track the performance of their portfolios. Acorns Australia was founded in 2015 as a joint venture with Lucas’ company, Instreet Investment Limited and US fintech […]
Reimagining wealth management for the digital age
David Levi looks at why responding to the digital challenge is not just about defence but about shaping a new era of wealth management. As consumer needs and the financial landscape evolve, major banks are being forced to reconsider their approach to wealth management services. Colonial First State, for example, has predicted that the retirement of Baby Boomers would result in unprecedented transfers of wealth. Similarly, Citigroup announced its plans to triple the size of its wealth management business in Australia by 2020, as it targets customers with more than $1 million to invest. While the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) reports that private sector forecasts superannuation assets […]
