Banks shift priorities toward digitalisation and innovation for future growth
Eighty percent of Australian banks and 85% globally cite implementation of a digital transformation program as a business priority for 2018, with investment in technology to drive efficiency, growth and manage evolving risks increasingly seen as critical for sustainable success, according to the EY Global Banking Outlook 2018. The survey of senior executives at 221 banking institutions across Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and emerging markets, found that globally just 19% of banks surveyed currently view themselves as being either digitally mature or a digital leader, while in Australian none of those surveyed did. However, it also showed there is an obvious recognition among banks of the urgency of continuing […]
Ethereum has outpaced its rival cryptocurrencies since the start of 2018
Ethereum is the best performing major cryptocurrency so far in 2018. The second-largest coin by market cap has gained 46% since January 1, compared to the overall market’s 15% drop. The global cryptocurrency market might have lost 15% – or $US93 billion of value – since January 1, but not all coins have declined equally. Ethereum has fared well in 2018, avoiding the drastic selling that has left other coins in the red. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is up more than 46% this year, according to Markets Insider data, far outpacing bitcoin’s25% decline. XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency, controlled largely by its creating company Ripple, is down more than […]
Australia’s fintech industry wants to remove roadblocks for private company equity crowdfunding
Australia’s fintech industry has called for the fast adoption of stalled private company equity crowdfunding legislation to help more Australian small-to-medium sized businesses access the funds they need to grow. Legislation supporting crowdfunding for private companies was introduced to the House of Representatives in September last year hasn’t progressed. FinTech Australia chair Stuart Stoyan today called on Federal MPs to work together to give priority to the legislation when Parliament returns next week. He also called on legislation to start immediately after passing the Australian Parliament rather than a six month delay. The legislation would give hundreds of thousands of Australian businesses the ability to crowdsource up to $5 million […]
The founder of Ethereum: Vitalik Buterin
After discovering cryptocurrencies while still at school, Vitalik Buterin dropped out of university to travel the world and explore crypto projects. He then realised he could take the blockchain technology far beyond financial applications. Vitalik Buterin ‘I went around the world, explored many crypto projects, and finally realised that they were all too concerned about specific applications and not being sufficiently general – hence the birth of Ethereum, which has been taking up my life ever since.’ – Vitalik Buterin Born in Russia in 1994, he emigrated to Toronto in Canada in 2000 with his parents Dmitry Buterin, a computer scientist, and Natalia Ameline. Subsequent to quitting his hobby of […]
Entersoft takes top spots at ET NET FinTech Awards
Entersoft emerged victorious as “Best Fintech Startup of 2017” and “Outstanding Application Security Solutions Provider” at the 2017 ET NET FinTech Awards for their proactive and offensive approach with DevSecOps, which assess applications for various security loopholes. Mohan Gandhi, CEO at Entersoft, cited security in FinTech as a growing concern, with no markets more directly impacted by its rise than banks, payments and Blockchain. “Data from banks and other financial organisations is a premium target for hackers, offering clear incentives for their malicious attacks. With increasingly sophisticated hacks happening every day – putting more and more FinTechs at risk, we are working hard towards cyber security maturity for our customers. […]
InfiniGold digital gold launches with The Perth Mint
In collaboration with The Perth Mint, InfiniGold has released the latest innovation in gold investment – a flexible digital gold product compatible with a wide range of technology platforms including blockchain. InfiniGold digital gold certificates offer institutions the opportunity to present investors with a new, secure and easy way to trade, hold and transfer physical gold. These digital certificates represent direct ownership of physical gold that is securely stored in The Perth Mint’s network of central bank grade vaults, which are located in the safe geopolitical environment of Western Australia. InfiniGold spokesman Sean McCawley said that InfiniGold certificates are the closest a customer can get to buying physical gold, in […]
Liberty buys MoneyPlace in personal loan push
Non-bank lender Liberty has purchased MoneyPlace, in a deal that will provide the marketplace lender with funding flexibility to target rivals SocietyOne and RateSetter along with the personal loan books of the big four banks. The acquisition suggests brokers, which currently facilitate half of all mortgages, will play a more influential role selling personal loans given Liberty’s deep broking relationships. It also suggests risk-based pricing of personal lending will become more common, given MoneyPlace and the other P2P lenders are willing to undercut bank interest rates for high quality borrowers. Liberty and MoneyPlace have not disclosed the price tag for the Melbourne-based platform, which has been operating for 18 months […]
Bilateral forum looks to digital future
Economic opportunities and ways to embrace rapidly advancing technologies will be among the topics of discussion at the Indonesia-Australia Digital Forum in Jakarta this week. The forum is a shared initiative of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and President Joko Widodo. The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation, Michael Keenan, will attend the two-day event on Wednesday and Thursday, joining government officials, high-profile business people, policymakers and academics from Australia and Indonesia. “Having taken over the Digital Transformation portfolio last month, this inaugural forum is a timely opportunity, as the Australian Government pursues its broad digital transformation agenda,” Minister Keenan said. “The forum provides a platform to discuss many […]
