Cross-border payments set for ‘unprecedented change’
The cross-border payments industry is seeing levels of “unprecedented change” globally, including in regulation, where Australia is struggling to keep apace despite the competition watchdog’s probe into the $9 billion foreign currency transaction market. That’s the view of OFX chief executive Skander Malcolm who identifies three themes dominating cross-border payment, including that a larger number of small and medium businesses are utilising global payments to tap into new customers or for their supply chain, and that rapid technological change is spawning a rash of new products and services. He says the third trend is a higher level of regulatory scrutiny and change that is facilitating new models, an area where […]
ASIC tightening regulation on ICOs is a positive move for the industry
ASIC recently announced that it has shut down several Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) for misleading or deceptive statements in their marketing and operation of unlicensed managed investment schemes. This once again casts the spotlight on the unregulated nature of the Cryptocurrency industry and the need for investor protection. Cryptocurrencies and, by association with the larger category of digital assets that they enable and are often confused with, continue to be viewed with suspicion by much of the mainstream public. This is despite, or in some cases as a result of, their explosion into the public consciousness in the last year. The reasons for this are varied. The early association with nefarious activity […]
Open banking: Refinance in 15 minutes
Open banking could see borrowers refinancing their home loans in 15 minutes, according to one panellist at a recent fintech summit. The event, held in Sydney on Tuesday (16 October), focused on how digital innovation was changing finance. The program included speakers and panel discussions on topics such as challenger brands, neo-banking and open banking. One panel session on challenger brands and neo-banks discussed the future of open banking. Panellists included CEO of VOLT bank, Steve Weston, and chief marketing officer of Athena Home Loans, Natalie Dinsdale. Athena Home Loans is still in a soft pilot phase, but Dinsdale said its “mission is to own home loans”. Other panellists were […]
ANZ in global banking consortium to digitise trade finance
ANZ Banking Group has joined forces with six global banking giants to create the “Trade Information Network”, which the lenders say will accelerate the digitisation of traditionally paper-based processes to unlock billions of dollars of funding for global exporters. “The network has the potential to transform international trade,” the banks said in a media release issued on Thursday, ahead of its official unveiling at the massive Sibos conference in Sydney on Monday. The other members of the new network are: Banco Santander, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered. The banks want to develop a new industry standard for trade finance, which has been in a challenging period […]
Lendi announces co-major sponsorship of the West Coast Eagles
Online home loan platform Lendi, has announced a new partnership as co-major sponsor of 2018 AFL premiership winner, the West Coast Eagles Football Club.
New ‘sandbox’ to help fintechs compete for real-time payments
Start-ups seeking to develop services for the new, real-time payments system will be able to test their capabilities via a new “sandbox” created by its governing body NPP Australia and Swift, the network of global banks that helped build the infrastructure. The new test environment – which will allow connections with the “new payments platform” (NPP) via “application programming interfaces” (APIs) – comes after criticism from the Productivity Commission in August that access to the big bank-built system is inadequate. To encourage more competition, NPP Australia introduced a new “NPP API Framework” earlier this month. Its CEO, Adrian Lovney, said the NPP has been designed to be inclusive and “open […]
Verrency accelerates global expansion as the first FinTech to be selected into Plug and Play Fintech programs in three different countries
Verrency have announced expansion into Germany and another selection into Plug and Play’s prestigious Fintech Program. Verrency has been selected for Plug and Play’s accelerator programs in the Silicon Valley, Singapore and now in Frankfurt, Germany as the company extends its global reach in the FinTech market. Thousands of start-up companies apply to Plug and Play’s accelerator programs each year before being thoroughly reviewed by Plug and Play executives and their corporate Financial Institution partners. Only a handful get the opportunity to participate in the accelerator. Verrency has passed this test three times in three different countries. “It is wonderful to see Verrency thrive and it’s nice to have a […]
Gobbling up your bills one at a time: how startup Gobbill is automating bill payment through AI
So, here’s an idea: imagine a digital financial assistant powered by artificial intelligence that digitises your bills and schedule payments, all whilst checking for fraud. Pretty cool, right? That’s what Gobbill, a fintech startup that automates bill payments for small businesses and households does. But that’s not all. Shendon Ewans, CEO and Co-Founder of Gobbill, says, “You can link any Australian bank account, and it will debit that account, so you don’t have to tell every biller your bank account details. Essentially, the product allows you to centralise your direct debits in one place.” In addition, the ability to pay your bills in cryptocurrency will be coming soon thanks to […]
