Put your money where your trust is
Why Nifty Personal Loans is the lender for you. In light of the recent fine laid down to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for breaching anti-money laundering and counter terrorism laws, the credibility of Australian lenders has once again come under scrutiny. The massive $700 million settlement, the largest ever civil penalty in Australian corporate history, was agreed upon by CBA and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) earlier last week. It is said that CBA’s breach of anti-money laundering laws allowed large crime syndicates to launder funds through the bank’s ATM’s and Intelligent Deposit Machines (IDM’s). The bank and trusted lender failed to carry out appropriate assessment […]
Westpac ends Prospa deal as banks plan more unsecured SME lending
Westpac Banking Corp has ended its referral relationship with Prospa, a sign major banks are preparing to ramp up unsecured small business lending to try to regain some of the market that has been surrendered to start-ups. After Prospa indefinitely postponed its ASX listing last week amid questions on whether its loan contracts breached new laws, the online business lender faces more intense competition from big banks who are developing new products to lend more to small business without requiring residential property to be pledged as security. “We did not continue our contract with Prospa because we are working on developing our own products that will satisfy more of our […]
Credit report delay shows fintech social risk concerns
Nothing is more valuable to a fintech start-up than data. And some of the best quality data for pricing financial services are the historical records of customer debt repayments. When run through algorithms, these can indicate how likely a prospective borrower is to repay a loan in the future, which helps with assessing risk and pricing. Fintechs are right on the cusp of getting access to this “repayment history information” (RHI), through the government’s new “comprehensive credit reporting” (CCR) regime. The policy is due to come into force in just over a fortnight, and would require banks to attach RHI to customer reports provided to credit bureaus. So the last-minute […]
Q & A: What is Australian FinTech Jobs?
What is Australian FinTech Jobs? Australian FinTech Jobs is the only dedicated jobs board for the FinTech industry in Australia. Are the roles just ‘finance’ or just ‘tech’? No. The roles posted on our site to date include interns to C-suites and everything in between – Sales & Marketing, Digital Marketing, Tech, CEO’s CTO’s, CFO’s, CIO’s, Accounting, Legal & Compliance, Analysts, BDM’s, PR, HR, Admin, EA’s, Data & Analytics, FX, Developers, Engineers and of course IT and Finance. There’s no restrictions, as long as the role is for a FinTech company or a FinTech role within a non-FinTech company, like a bank etc. Even the new CEO of FinTech […]
Burgeoning innovation culture an opportunity for investors: Equitise
Australia may lag behind Silicon Valley when it comes to start-up culture, but the growing space is presenting increasing opportunities, an equity crowdfunding company has said. Chris Gilbert, managing director and co-founder of Equitise, which facilitates investment in start-ups and businesses, told Nest Egg that while Australia isn’t quite at the level of Israel, the UK or the US when it comes to innovation, Australia’s “evolving” landscape supplies opportunities. Responding to questioning around whether Australia lacked a strong business mindset, as Bernard Salt has previously opined, Mr Gilbert said, “I think that it definitely is true to a certain extent. “It was far more true when I was getting in […]
Ombudsman calls for greater clarity on fintech loan terms
Speaking to Mortgage Business, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO), Kate Carnell, stated her concern that fintechs, including Prospa, are making their interest rates “really hard to understand”. The small business lender, which postponed its public listing this week, reportedly has an average annual interest rate north of 40 per cent. However, while Ms Carnell did not suggest the interest rate was inappropriate, she did question the transparency around the actual rate itself. “If somebody wants to pay a 40 per cent [annual percentage rate], that’s absolutely fine,” Ms Carnell told Mortgage Business. “For particular sorts of loans that could have high levels of risk, that’s an […]
AMP’s stumble has smaller players smelling blood
Amid the storm unleashed by the commission, these tailwinds have become something more like a gale. The market has arguably moved a long way ahead of the eventual facts on the ground, perhaps too far. The royal commission is still in fact-finding mode. Reports won’t be finalised until early 2019. Even then, what will and won’t be taken up in law is another issue entirely. It could well be two years before the dust settles. Yet the theme looks well entrenched in the share prices. Hub24, Netwealth and Praemium all trade at 12-month forward price-to-earnings multiples of around 66, on Bloomberg numbers. That looks difficult to swallow. The Bell Potter […]
Prospa founders admit float lost ‘vital momentum’
The co-founders of small business lender Prospa maintain the company can return to the public markets for a future float, after a last-minute regulatory query this week created “confusion” that sapped the listing of vital “momentum.” Prospa was meant to be one of most-watched floats of 2018, but these plans were thrown into disarray this week as scrutiny from regulators apparently caught the company, and its investment bankers, off-guard. After Thursday night’s decision to postpone the float, on Friday, co-founders Greg Moshal and Beau Bortoli said Prospa was taking the opportunity to “regroup” and one day return to the public markets. Prospa had been due to list around lunchtime on […]
