Australia and UK “Concluding Negotiations” for new FinTech deal
The Australian High Commissioner to the UK has revealed that the two countries are on the verge of inking a new FinTech agreement. Speaking at a global trade conference last week, Australia’s high commissioner to the UK Alexander Downer reportedly stated that the two countries “are in the process of concluding negotiations on fintech”, a move that will boost Australia with direct ties to one of Britain’s fastest-growing industries. As reported by International Investment, Downer further revealed that the agreement will bring enhanced cooperation between the two countries’ regulatory authorities. A spokesperson for Her Majesty’s Treasury, the UK’s economic finance ministry, confirmed the advanced talks, stating: “The UK and Australia […]
IPO Wealth to facilitate foreign ASX listings
Fintech start-up IPO Wealth has raised $10 million in growth capital that it will use to help overseas companies list on the ASX. Since March 2017, high net wealth investors have invested $10 million in the IPO Wealth Fund, which aims to help overseas companies list on the ASX and has funded the growth capital of 10 investments across eight countries. IPO Wealth chief executive James Mawhinney said in a statement that the capital raised within the first half-year of the fund demonstrated that investors were looking for opportunities outside of traditional means, “which are often eroded by inflation”. “This represents a significant opportunity to provide IPO Wealth’s investors with […]
Novatti partners with Lightyear
Novatti Group has partnered with Lightyear.io to progress the integration of the Novatti platform into the Stellar network, aiming to build a global money transfer solution. Lightyear.io supports partner integrations for the Stellar network, an open-source blockchain network that provides interoperability between financial institutions and different payments, making cross currency and cross asset payments much faster, more efficient, and less costly. The Novatti platform is already capable of integrating with blockchain and Bitcoin technology to enable payments to and from Bitcoin account holders. Source: Novatti partners with Lightyear – The Australian
Global Corporates chasing technology innovation in banking
Some of the world’s largest enterprises are prepared to switch financial providers should their banks not keep up with technological innovation, new research from East & Partners has found. According to the exclusive report, titled Financial Technology and the Corporate, around 13 percent of corporates have either partially or fully switched banks in direct response to newly released financial technology solutions, with a further 20 percent currently considering doing so. The research is based on direct interviews with 737 corporate treasurers and chief financial officers (CFOs) from the Top 100 firms across eight key markets including Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK and USA. […]
We auction our home, clothes, art, cars – so why not auction our own money?
Fintech startup Lodex is a new competitive, auction-style loans and deposits marketplace that puts the power into the hands of the consumer. The world’s first auction-style platform allows the consumer to choose the winning lender or broker. Lodex is set to disrupt the way Australians borrow and save money by having lenders and brokers compete for their business. The auction-style platform allows consumers to anonymously share their Credit Score and the Australian-first, optional Social Score, to the marketplace and set up an auction from their smartphone in 10 minutes & watch ‘bids’ come in. This is a paradigm shift putting the consumers in the driver’s seat. Lodex, free for consumers, […]
Bitcoin moves smoothly into ‘real’ cash
News that bitcoin ATMs are being installed in larger numbers around Australia shows the growing popularity of the online currency, at a time when we are using cash less and less. Bitcoin joins the thousands of currencies around the world that are generally known as ‘complementary’ to the official monetary system. But it is one of the most successful. A big draw for bitcoin users is that it is supposed to be reasonably anonymous. Once a person has signed up to the bitcoin system, the blockchain, they can set up any number of ‘addresses’ and use them for sales and purchases. Another reason for its popularity is that it cuts […]
NAB is adding 600 fintech jobs
The National Australia Bank has announced 600 new tech jobs to “reshape” its workforce as it moves to compete against more agile fintech startups. Recruitment for the new positions — in software engineering, data, architecture and security — will take place immediately. It comes after the bank last week revealed it would cut 2,000 jobs in other areas by 2020. “We know this is an ambitious target and acknowledge the war for talent is intense, but these are the essential skills and roles we need in order to deliver our plan,” said NAB chief technology and operations officer Patrick Wright. The recruitment drive, according to the bank, will “rebalance” the […]
Aussie fintech startup Stake makes buying US shares easier than buying shoes
Aussies now have simple, pain-free access to the US share market thanks to fintech startup Stake, a revolutionary platform that makes making shopping for shares as easy as buying shoes online. Stake operates more like an eCommerce site than a financial services platform, and is breaking down the current barriers limiting Aussies to local investments, cutting out the middleman and providing simple, user-friendly tools to buy, sell and gift global shares with $0 brokerage. From Apple to Atlassian, Aussie investors now have access to US shares at their fingertips. Stake’s CEO, Matthew Leibowitz is well versed in investing in global markets, having previously spent a decade at global trading firm […]
