Netwealth fronts fundies on path to listing
Investment services and superannuation advice company Netwealth has booked fund managers for meetings in Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Auckland this week, as it ramps up plans for an initial public offering. It’s understood Netwealth management will present to fundies starting on Monday, in meetings arranged by sponsor brokers Credit Suisse and UBS. The company is expected to pitch the high growth it has seen in its investment platform, with $14.3 billion in funds under advice and more than 2000 advisers on board. The non-deal roadshow comes as Netwealth’s shareholders push for an ASX-listing later this year. It’s understood to be eyeing about a $150 million to $200 million raising as part […]
Start-up bank says drop $50m capital requirement
The prudential regulator’s insistence that banks have at least $50 million in Tier 1 capital has erected a substantial barrier to entry for new players, says Xinja, the start-up backed by former Macquarie executives which is working with the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority’s newly established licensing unit to become a bank. The federal government said in the May budget it would lift a prohibition on the use of the word “bank” by an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADIs) with less than $50 million in capital. The next day, APRA announced its new licensing unit. Xinja’s ambition to use the new law and unit to build Australia’s first “neobank” were revealed in […]
Fintechs target millennials with online financial services
Millennials, a demographic group born between 1980 and 2000, make up one of the largest living generations and have now overtaken the baby boomers. Millennials are likely to fall into three categories: • Inheritors: With wealthy parents, they are major consumers while they wait to inherit. • Strivers: Coming from a more modest background, they are studying, saving and working hard with ambitions for promotion. They will borrow to support their lifestyle, not unlike inheritors. • Given-ups: They are more likely earning a low salary but continue to consume as much as the other two categories. Buying a house is not on the agenda, so they do not see the […]
Australian fintech company Prospa named Best Employer in AON Hewitt Best Employers Program
Prospa, Australia’s leading online lender to small business, has been named Best Employer in the AON Hewitt Best Employers program for 2017 – the first year the company has entered the awards. Prospa has been awarded the sought after status due to the strong connection the company builds between its team and customers, and the problem they are solving for them. A strong leadership team led by joint CEOs Beau Bertoli and Greg Moshal, delivers a strong emphasis on company culture and a customer-centric focus, and has helped create a highly engaged, high performing team that cares deeply about Australian small business owners. The AON Hewitt award builds on Prospa’s […]
Moroku teams up with banking software giant Temenos to help parents help their children win financially
Swiss based Temenos today announce that it is making Moroku’s ChoreScout app available to its banking customers via the Temenos Marketplace to help banks educate the next generation on better money management and invest in long term relationships. The announcement sees ChoreScout integrated with the Temenos core banking platform, whilst marketplace availability means that existing Temenos banks are able to login to the marketplace, review background material, request a free trial and be provided with test accounts. With over 2,000 firms across the globe, including 41 of the top 50 banks, relying on Temenos to process the daily transactions of more than 500 million banking customers, the agreement gives […]
Westpac launches new corporate lending portal
Westpac Banking Corp has launched a new internet banking portal for its corporate customers to make it easier to drawdown loans and request guarantees, a move it hopes will help its institutional bank retain customers and lift revenue. Ahead of a market briefing by Westpac Institutional Bank’s chief executive Lyn Cobley on Friday morning, presentation slides released to the ASX show Westpac will be seeking to use new technology to increase customer self-servicing in order to drive efficiencies. In the first half, expenses in WIB were down 3 per cent from the previous half, to $657 million. Westpac Institutional Bank provides 17 per cent of Westpac Group’s earnings and delivers […]
Government must leave encryption alone, or it will endanger blockchain
If we could give Malcolm Turnbull one piece of economic advice right now – one piece of advice about how to protect the economy against a challenging and uncertain future – it would be this: don’t mess with encryption. Earlier this month the government announced that it was going to “impose an obligation” on device manufacturers and service providers to provide law enforcement authorities access to encrypted information on the presentation of a warrant. At the moment it’s unclear what exactly this means. Attorney-General George Brandis and Malcolm Turnbull have repeatedly denied they want a legislated “backdoor” into encrypted devices, but the loose way they’ve used that language suggests some sort […]
Prospa raises $20m from Partners for Growth
Online business lender Prospa has raised $20 million from Silicon Valley-based Partners for Growth through a tailored debt facility that will allow it to ramp up loans and further develop its technology allowing credit assessments to be made in seconds. Prospa, which has lent more than $400 million to small businesses, up from $250 million in February after a strong fourth quarter, has deals with 4000 distribution partners, including finance brokers and cloud accounting platforms. It also has a referral partnership with Westpac Banking Corp. Prospa chief financial officer Ed Bigazzi said some of the new capital will be used for product development, including in invoice financing, and a stronger […]
