Fintech startup HashChing is an online marketplace for borrowers and mortgage brokers
Fintech startup HashChing is an online marketplace for borrowers to access pre-negotiated home loan deals from verified mortgage brokers. The Sydney startup connects consumers instantly to their local mortgage broker based on their postcode and deal preference. The platform then sends the borrower a profile of each local mortgage broker with ratings and reviews collected by HashChing. “While 54 percent of Australians now trust mortgage brokers for home loans, finding a recommended local mortgage broker with ratings is a challenge as there is no other platform doing this currently,” said Mandeep Sodhi, cofounder of HashChing. “In this on-demand economy, consumers are used to services delivered in minutes and expect a […]
Scott Morrison scraps GST on Bitcoin, cuts fintech red tape
Treasurer Scott Morrison said digital currencies such as Bitcoin will be exempt from GST and restrictions on crowdfunding eased, under changes to boost the fintech sector. The government will also reduce tax barriers for venture capital investing in fintech companies and is working with the corporate regulator on a “regulatory sandbox” for start-ups that will allow them to focus on developing new products first and regulatory requirements later. Other measures include tasking the Productivity Commission with deciding whether major banks should be forced to share customers’ repayments data with credit bureaus and creating a new “entrepreneur’s visa”, which was announced in December. Digital currency Bitcoin will be exempt from GST […]
Capital Preferences opens office in Stone & Chalk
Capital Preferences, a leading global financial technology company has joined Stone & Chalk, the leading Australian independent, not-for-profit fintech hub. Capital Preferences’ enterprise risk-profiling and product recommendation system is a next generation tool for banks, insurers, super funds and wealth managers who are seeking to better understand, advise, risk manage and grow their client base. The system is the brain that creates a patent pending set of measures on each client, called an Economic Fingerprint™. The system adds scientific precision and efficiency to mission critical tasks for advisers and regulators– such as understanding a client’s true risk, time or legacy preferences. “Capital Preferences’ aim is to replace outdated and imprecise […]
Crowd-sourced quant investment firm Quantopian lands in Australia
Quantopian, the crowd-sourced quantitative investment firm, will launch in Australia this weekend with a series of outreach events for local practicing and aspirational quants. Quantopian, which was founded in the US in 2011, provides an open platform where anyone can research, backtest, and execute their algorithmic strategies. The firm picks the best-performing algorithms and allocates capital to them. The algorithm authors are paid a percentage of profits earned by the algorithm, and retain the rights to it as their intellectual property. An Australian was among the first to receive an allocation from the firm for his algorithm in 2015. In addition to its platform, Quantopian offers free lectures and materials to help […]
Blockchain safer than existing systems, says IBM’s James Wallis
Recent advances with blockchain technology had already made it more secure than most of the current financial systems it could replace, according to IBM’s blockchain expert, James Wallis. “Blockchain is already more secure now than most systems that are already out there,” IBM’s vice-president, global payments industry and blockchain, told The Australian. Speaking on a visit to Australia, Mr Wallis rejected suggestions that the commercial use of blockchain, the technology behind the bitcoin cyber-currency, which is now be reviewed by the ASX and the big four banks, was vulnerable to hacking. Several bitcoin operators lost millions of bitcoins in hacking attacks last year.“A lot of the computer science that has […]
Bravura Solutions: Technology Provider of the Year
Congratulations to Australian FinTech company Bravura Solutions who have won the Technology Provider of the Year at the FStech 2016 awards. Bravura Solutions Pty Limited is a trusted provider of software solutions for the wealth management, life insurance and transfer agency industries, underpinned by functionality rich technology that enables modernisation, consolidation and simplification. Now into its 16th year, FStech Awards took place on 17 March at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square. Lloyds Banking Group, Misys, VocaLink, Barclays, LV=, SWIFT and Bank of America Merill Lynch were among the winners last time around. At the 2015 FStech Awards, over 450 of the financial services sector’s best and brightest were out in […]
SelfWealth announces new product offerings
Peer-to-peer investment start-up SelfWealth is preparing to launch two products at the end of this month aimed at addressing “the frustrations” that consumers face in financial advice today. Known as SelfWealth INTELLIGENCE and TRADING, founder Andrew Ward said the two products are targeted at simplifying stock trading by allowing a larger number of investors to enter the market and take control of their investments. “We’re a peer-to-peer investing group that uses the intelligence of the community to construct portfolios for investors,” Ward said. “Fintech is all about challenging the current norm [and] the end consumer is the number one piece in the puzzle. When you focus on that, [you are] […]
Moroku releases Australia’s first device agnostic, mobile business and payments platform
Moroku has released Australia’s first device agnostic, mobile business and payments platform. Designed to allow small businesses to manage their customers, products and sales, the Marrakash android app not only creates and stores orders, when installed on an NFC enabled phone the app can take “Tap and Go” credit card payments. Until Marrakash, merchants need to pay up to $80 per month to rent a card terminal from one of the banks. That’s a sizeable monthly outlay especially if you have multiple sellers out and about. The app is multi user, so if an electrical contractor has 4 or 5 electricians driving around the country taking payments for installations, each […]
