Australian Fintech firm recognised as global market leader
This week, Australian-owned Financial Technology (Fintech) firm, Fincast, was announced as a category winner and finalist in Sony Corporation’s global Fintech Innovation Challenge. Andrew Connors, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Fincast, said, “we are delighted to have won the “under-banked/under-invested” category in the Sony Fintech Innovation Challenge. Being recognised by a global brand like Sony is fantastic validation and endorsement of our applications”. The Challenge attracted over 50 applications from Fintech firms from across 28 countries. Fincast was the only Australian company named as a finalist. Fincast’s technology is unique amongst other automated advice capabilities, enabling appropriately licensed advice providers with 2nd generation technology that automatically adapts […]
Australia’s banks could be forced to share data with fintech start-ups
Treasurer Scott Morrison is considering forcing Australia’s big banks to share more of their data with financial technology start-ups to bolster the country’s comprehensive credit reporting scheme. The announcement was made as part of the government’s new policy vision for growing the fintech sector, launched today. It revealed it would direct the Productivity Commission to review “options for improving data availability and use”, including weighing up calls from the fintech sector to make comprehensive credit reporting mandatory. The fintech industry’s request draws from a perceived reluctance on the part of the big banks to take part in the comprehensive credit reporting scheme, which was introduced in March 2014 to allow […]
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 […]
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 […]
