Morgan Stanley likes the look of Fintech these days
Many people these days are wondering where to put their investments these days, and there’s no shortage of options. Morgan Stanley, in fact, offered up one outlook that will be welcome to those of us out here: fintech is actually very attractive. Fintech, or financial technology, is a fairly broad frontier that covers just about everything from e-wallet systems to payment processors to even credit card companies. In fact, Morgan Stanley executive director James Faucette pointed out Visa and Mastercard as the kind of companies that could absorb virtually any negative development in the economy. Faucette also notes that investors are “…underestimating the secular push from digitization” and the growing […]
Open banking gains momentum
As open banking gains momentum, the future of the industry will see a move away from product offerings in favour of customer experience and engagement, a panel of industry experts told a Temenos conference. The panel of experts told the conference that technology has placed the industry in a constant phase of reform, and the move to open banking would see a significant shift away from the big four banks to address the needs of underfunded sectors like small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Piers Balmer from business lending funding service for SMEs, Judo Capital, said they no longer used the term ‘product’, and instead opted for terms like ‘engagement’ and […]
OnDeck Australia secures $75m Credit Suisse loan
Small business lender OnDeck Australia has secured a $75 million funding line from Credit Suisse, the latest partnership between fintech players and established institutions. The subsidiary of the New York-listed OnDeck Capital said the asset-backed revolving credit facility would be used to refinance OnDeck Australia’s loan book and to fund new loans. The facility is due to mature in June 2020. On Deck Australia managing director Cameron Poolman said the lender was striving to lower its cost of funding, origination and to build a “leading credit model”. He said the online small business lending market is growing at a faster pace than it did in the US at a similar stage in […]
Bitcoin just hit $8,000 – Here’s what’s pushing it up
The bitcoin price has today climbed above the $8,000 mark for the first time since mid-May — leading many to predict a return to the bull run that last year powered bitcoin to almost $20,000. The latest boost for bitcoin comes after a week that saw it add almost 20% to its price on the back of news that established financial giants are looking to get in on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and a raft of positive regulatory news around the world.Meanwhile, the so-called bitcoin dominance rate — a measure of how much of the total cryptocurrency market is controlled by bitcoin — rose to 47% this week, the highest level […]
Breaking down blockchain’s potential for cross-border payments
By Simon Banks, Hyperwallet’s Managing Director and SVP of Asia-Pacific Blockchain has been labelled a disruptive force that could transform entire industries and even have potential to shake the foundations of economic and social systems. With the advent of cryptocurrencies, the banking and financial services sectors were among the first to feel its effects. In the payments space, it is important to separate the underlying distributed ledger technology from the cryptocurrency hype, and to understand the problems blockchain can solve, as well as the ways in which it can transform payments without disregarding barriers to implementation. Cross-border payments, a space that currently begets frustration but is increasingly dominated by innovative […]
Meet Lex Greensill and the fintech that’s Australia’s newest $2b unicorn
A supply chain financing company with its roots in regional Queensland, Greensill, has become the country’s next $1 billion-plus unicorn, thanks to a $US250 million ($336 million) capital injection from growth equity firm General Atlantic, which also creates the country’s newest rich listers. Greensill, founded in 2011 in London by Bundaberg-born farmer Lex Greensill, 41, provides businesses in industries from telecommunications to manufacturing with working capital based on their invoices, allowing them to be paid faster and fulfil the work, without shortening payment terms for buyers. The capital raise, which is the first for the previously bootstrapped company that had only taken capital from family and friends, values Greensill at […]
Credit Simple launches Money Simple
Credit Simple, the fintech where every Australian and New Zealander can get their credit score and credit file for free, forever, has launched free online budgeting tool Money Simple. In a world first, Money Simple brings together open banking data with credit scores to form a single, unified view of a person’s financial life in one spot. Money Simple aims to leverage consumer data rights and open data rules to give consumers visibility on their financial position on a single platform. Money Simple is powered by Proviso, an open banking platform that draws data from Australian financial institutions. Credit Simple CEO David Scognamiglio said Money Simple was at the leading […]
New legislation could net Afterpay, but nothing can spoil the party
As Afterpay’s share price rose 37.8 per cent over the past few three trading days on positive US expansion figures, the Treasury Department on Friday quietly released draft legislation that could bring the Australian operations of the soaring no-interest lender under the regulation of ASIC. Strangely though, the only group that appears to have noticed is the Consumer Action Centre. It put out a press release on Friday applauding the new legislation, which it said would target “unregulated short-term credit like buy-now pay-later”, the sector in which Afterpay is the most successful provider. The legislation, which will now go through a period of open consultation, proposes to formally institute a […]
