Luxembourg and Australia agree fintech pact
The Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (‘CSSF’) and The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’) today signed a Cooperation Agreement which provides a framework for cooperation to understand financial innovation in each jurisdiction. The Agreement provides a framework for information sharing between the two regulators on financial technology (fintech) and regulatory technology (regtech). It complements the existing close relationship between ASIC and the CSSF. On entering the Agreement, ASIC Commissioner John Price said, ‘We see this agreement as very timely. Both our jurisdictions are leaders in funds management and other financial services. ASIC is very interested in learning from the fintech and regtech innovations that are taking place […]
What is open banking and how will it affect you?
Open banking is being phased in from July 2019, making it easier for you to switch banks and get a better deal. It could even result in fintechs being a more viable option for you over a traditional bank. But what is open banking exactly, how much control will it give you over your own data, and what are banks doing about potential privacy issues? What is open banking? You might not be familiar with the terms ‘open data’ or ‘open banking’. They relate to another concept most Australians might not have heard of – the Consumer Data Right. The issue of who owns a consumer’s data – the consumer […]
Netwealth releases open-source advice toolkit
Platform provider Netwealth has launched a new open-source toolkit for advice businesses that is focused purely on innovation. Part of the first release of Netwealth’s Innovation Toolkit is the Customer Journey Map workshop, focused on the customer experience and journey, putting employees in the shoes of clients through a series of team activities. Netwealth joint managing director Matt Heine said its Innovation Toolkit is about providing advice businesses access to a range of materials and tools so they can facilitate workshops in their own office. “This is a simple toolkit that provides businesses with a framework to identify friction points in the customer experience and develop implementable solutions to address […]
Non-majors drop interest rates
Online lender Tic:Toc and Teachers Mutual Bank have both announced changes to some of their home loan offerings. Tic:Toc has dropped its variable rate to 3.57 per cent (3.58 per cent comparison) for new customers (as of 28 September) and is offering its existing customers the same rate on a two-year fixed rate basis (down from 3.64 per cent previously). Speaking of the change, Tic:Toc’s founder and CEO, Anthony Baum, commented that part of the decision to drop rates had been brought about by the findings of the financial services royal commission. Mr Baum said: “It’s common practice among the major banks to lower interest rates for new customers while simultaneously hiking […]
SME lender expands equipment finance
An online lender has expanded its offering of equipment finance, saying it is providing a solution for the “underserved” market of small business owners. OnDeck Capital Australia said it had received feedback from small businesses and brokers about the length of the loans. The lender found that a lot of equipment had useful lives longer than the length of repayments. Small businesses can also find it difficult to get funding from mainstream lenders. Cameron Poolman, Chief Executive Officer of OnDeck Australia, said brokers often speak to OnDeck about the challenges they encounter obtaining traditional finance solutions for nonprimary assets. He said, “These include assets such as catering equipment, gym equipment, […]
BitTorrent’s creator wants to build a better Bitcoin
In 2001, a 25-year-old unemployed college dropout named Bram Cohen crafted an elegant protocol for moving data around the internet. Titanic numbers of pirated songs and movies, and countless lawsuits, later, he’s putting the finishing touches on what he hopes will be another world-changing protocol—this time for moving around money. Cohen’s earlier invention was BitTorrent, a specification for peer-to-peer file sharing that delighted millions but angered entertainment moguls, and at one point consumed more than a third of global internet traffic. His latest creation is a digital currency and startup called Chia, aimed at making cryptocurrency acceptable to the financial industry. “I like hard technical problems,” says Cohen, with a […]
Accenture launches Innovation Centre for Risk and Compliance in Australia
Accenture has launched a new Innovation Centre for Risk and Compliance in Sydney to help financial services clients quickly develop and scale advanced data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. With financial services organisations facing an increasingly complex and challenging operating environment, the new innovation centre will help these institutions cost effectively improve the quality and consistency of compliance and enhance transparency with customers and regulators. Offering an alternative to the traditional manual and labour-intensive approaches to regulatory compliance, the innovation centre will help clients better target problem areas and accelerate remediation efforts using a new generation of data management, intelligent automation and advanced analytics capabilities, powered by big data, cloud […]
New SMSF admin offering hits market from fintech firm
A fintech firm has developed a new platform which provides SMSF establishment and ongoing administration services. The financial technology platform, called Selfmade, was developed by former Macquarie investment banker Robin Huender and MoneyMe Financial Group chief executive Clayton Howes. Selfmade is an online platform allowing users to establish and monitor the performance of their SMSF while admin and tax returns are taken care of in the background. “Selfmade has built its platform with integrations to Class and Macquarie. The platform targets SMSF trustees and members that might otherwise be handled by less tech-enabled accountants and administrators,” said the fintech firm. To read more, please click on the link below… […]
