Prospa contributes $3.65 billion to Australian GDP
Prospa, Australia’s number one online lender to small business, today revealed new research into the economic impact of its lending to small business in Australia. Prospa undertook the economic impact assessment in partnership with RFi Group and the Centre for International Economics (CIE). The project considered the value of funds lent by Prospa over the period 2013 – 2018 and assessed how funds have benefited Prospa’s customers through increases in revenue and employment and the flow-on effects of these funds to the wider economy. The results of the research showed: For every $1m in lending by Prospa there is a corresponding $4m increase in GDP Since 2013, Prospa has contributed […]
Banks cull ATMs as more customers ditch cash
Major banks removed hundreds of ATMs in the latest year, as the industry responded to the scrapping of withdrawal fees and consumers further reduced their use of cash. In a trend that is tipped to ramp up as digital payments take off, all of the big four have made cuts to their ATM networks in the latest 12 months for which figures are available, with one lender culling one in four machines. The decline of ATMs, which were first rolled out by banks in the 1980s, has been predicted by experts for several years, but it is only fairly recently that numbers have begun to fall meaningfully from their peak […]
Crowdfunding success for Australian brewers
Gold Coast brewery Black Hops has hit its fundraising target of $400,000 just six days after opening its offer to the public. Matt Vitale from equity crowdfunding platform Birchal said he was delighted with the result. “Black Hops offer was fully subscribed last night, reaching its maximum target in just six days,” Vitale said. “We are thrilled with the result, as is the Black Hops team.” The $400,000 is earmarked for finishing Black Hops’ second brewery and taproom located 30 minutes north of its current site in Burleigh Heads. Investors could invest for as little as $50 to receive ordinary shares in the company. Depending on the value of their […]
Neobank Douugh wants to take HENRYs from the big four after Regional Australia Bank deal
Douugh, an Australian fintech start-up run by SocietyOne co-founder Andy Taylor, has secured the last piece of the puzzle it needed to join the race to knock off the big four banks as one of an emerging group of neobanks. The company, which has developed a so-called “smart” bank account, with an artificial intelligence-based personal finance assistant known as Sophie, has secured a wholesale banking deal with Armidale-based Regional Australia Bank, meaning it will be able to offer full bank accounts later this year. The partnership agreement means Douugh will bypass the need to go through the APRA approval process, which saw Volt Bank announced as Australia’s newest bank on […]
Zip throws down challenge to Afterpay and ‘outdated’ credit cards amid Senate inquiry
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) service Zip has described the current credit card model as ‘outdated’ compared to BNPL products such as their own, which they argue offer a ‘fairer’ payment alternative for Australian consumers. The comments from Zip CEO and Co-Founder, Larry Diamond, came amid a call for new regulations on the BNPL industry from the company, including conducting more stringent financial checks on customers and providing greater product transparency. “When correctly regulated, BNPL products offer a powerful tool for consumers to take control of their finances,” said Mr Diamond. “Compared to the outdated credit card model, these products provide a better, fairer alternative with simpler product constructs, interest-free […]
A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency
MIT researchers have developed a new cryptocurrency that drastically reduces the data users need to join the network and verify transactions — by up to 99 percent compared to today’s popular cryptocurrencies. This means a much more scalable network. Cryptocurrencies, such as the popular Bitcoin, are networks built on the blockchain, a financial ledger formatted in a sequence of individual blocks, each containing transaction data. These networks are decentralized, meaning there are no banks or organizations to manage funds and balances, so users join forces to store and verify the transactions. But decentralization leads to a scalability problem. To join a cryptocurrency, new users must download and store all transaction […]
Will the Samsung Galaxy S10 come cryptocurrency-ready?
If you need a smartphone that will also work as a mobile cryptocurrency wallet, Samsung may have a handset for you. Photos tweeted by leaker Ice universe on Wednesday purport to show the Samsung Galaxy S10 with support for cryptocurrencies and sporting a Blockchain KeyStore. Text on the handset’s screen calls the KeyStore a “secure and convenient place for your cryptocurrency.” Blockchain is an encryption technology best known for underpinning bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But investor ardor over bitcoin has waned in the past year, with the cryptocurrency trading for about $3,555 on Wednesday after being worth more than $17,000 in December 2017. Samsung is widely expected to unveil the Galaxy S10 at an […]
International payment transfer provider FlashFX enhances additional customer on-boarding security
FlashFX is an international money payment service that can transfer to 35 countries across 18 currencies securely, quickly and with no transaction fees.
