Fintech firm’s education offering to merge soft, practical skills
Online learning business knowITdigital has partnered with Monarch Institute to roll out a diploma and advanced diploma of financial planning for the 4000 subscribers to its wealthdigital tool, with content set to cover a broad spectrum from behavioural science to policy. The fintech firm’s offering will be designed as the first step in preparing planners or prospective planners for the new education standards, due to become mandatory from 2019. The firm also plans to replicate the model for the accounting profession eventually. Monarch Institute chief operating officer Nick Chapman says the courses will merge practical elements and soft skills with the more traditional, technical content you would expect from a […]
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 licence exemption no huge difference
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) licensing exemption for fintech providers to test certain services will not make a material difference to those who want to build a scaled advice engine as they will attain a licence regardless of the exemption, according to Rubik. General manager of wealth solutions, Cameron O’Sullivan, said there was a fine line between advice and client engagement tools. Some providers would simply want to build a series of tools for clients to engage with before the first meeting with the adviser, which would have traditionally been the online fact find. “But they might now have some basic engagement tools in there too with the […]
Crowdfunder signs-off on world-first ag land acquisition deal
THE crowd-funder which made headlines last year when it tried to mount a bid to buy S.Kidman & Co during the pastoral giant’s torturous path to sale has made its first rural property purchase – albeit on a much more modest scale. Crowd-funder DomaCom has finalised its first foray into agricultural assets with a ground-breaking deal that gives 90 smaller retail investors a stake in a high performance grazing property in Victoria’s prime Western Districts. The 150-hectare property, Doyles, just outside Casterton near the South Australian border, is in the undulating heartland of the prime beef and sheep region. Before entering a contract to purchase the property, the fund was […]
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 […]
CANSTAR 2017 Innovation Excellence Awards
The rise in Australia of fintech and general advances in technology have of late made for some exciting innovations in the financial services sector. Today, CANSTAR recognises seven new products and services of the 52 submissions received in the banking, insurance and investment industries to be awarded the company’s 2017 Innovation Excellence Award. To be called innovative, a product or service must be new to the market having been released within the most recent year, and should aim to make Australians lives easier and more convenient. Talking about the industry’s dedication to innovation, CANSTAR Group Manager, Research and Ratings, Mitchell Watson said, “Each year we are thrilled with the quality […]
SocietyOne hits new lending records
SocietyOne sets new lending record as growth continues to accelerate in 2017 $250 million in total lending originations since inception March 2017 sets new monthly record for new lending of $20 million Second best quarter on record for personal loans and agri-lending Loan book goes through $150 million – 165% increase year-on-year Significant increase in investor funding following appointment of CIO John Cummins SocietyOne, Australia’s leading and fastest-growing marketplace lender, has set a further new record for marketplace lending after passing through the $250 million lending mark following another strong quarter of growth. Strong demand from borrowers for personal loans in the post-Christmas and New Year period, and growing interest […]
