Westpac increases investment in mortgage broker start-up uno Home Loans with $5m
Westpac Banking Corporation has increased its majority stake in digital mortgage broking platform Uno, ploughing another $5 million into the company. The big four bank has now invested about $26.5 million into the venture and owns 92 per cent of ordinary shares, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents. Factoring in shares that are subject to vesting, on a fully diluted basis Westpac still owns more than three quarters of the company. Founder and chief executive Vincent Turner told The Australian Financial Review the funding provided by Westpac had given the fintech start-up a leg up it couldn’t have had otherwise. “If we wanted to move fast, learn fast […]
How consumers can help clean up the alternative lending market
An influx of alternative lenders and a seemingly unbreakable cycle of bad debt for borrowers have given the short-term loan sector a bad reputation. However, consumers have a role to play in helping clean up the industry. The first step – understanding how lenders should be acting. ASIC requires lenders to conduct ‘reasonable inquiries about a consumer’s financial situation.’ This means inquiries must be made about the consumer’s actual situation and, while alternative lenders are known to be more lenient when it comes to bad credit scores and being on Centrelink, they must still gather enough information about circumstances likely to affect a consumer’s ability to repay their loan. Daniel […]
Netwealth founders say AI, data mining to shape $750b platform market
The founders of financial planning platform Netwealth predict artificial intelligence and data mining will lead innovation in the fast-growing platform market, ahead of an expected $900 million sharemarket listing of the family company later this year, which could catapult its founders onto the Financial Review Rich List. Michael Heine, his brother Leslie Heine and and Michael’s son Matt Heine, founded the company, which provides software and financial products to non-bank aligned financial planners, in 1999. Since then, Netwealth, which now has funds under management, administration and advice of $15.5 billion and employs 220 staff, is among a clutch of increasingly influential companies that have built businesses by signing up advisers […]
‘Facebook for investors’: Selfwealth launches $7.5m initial public offering
Online share trading platform and investment community Selfwealth has pushed the button on its initial public offering as it looks to expand its suite of offerings and position itself as the Facebook of investing. Selfwealth describes itself as a potentially disruptive brokerage service with a peer-to-peer portfolio construction functionality in the offer document lodged with the corporate regulator last week. The platform provides a flat fee share trading of $9.50 per parcel of shares and allows members to publish and monitor share trades in real time. The service is looking to capitalise on the rise of the self directed investor while the IPO should benefit from a growing appetite for ‘fintech’ […]
Banks want to charge for handing over customer data
Major banks want to charge fintech businesses in exchange for handing over data on the banks’ customers, a sign of the likely tensions to emerge as the government looks to break open the banks’ information vaults. In a move that could have far-reaching implications for banks and their customers alike, Treasurer Scott Morrison earlier this year ordered an investigation into “open banking”, a system that would allow customers to securely share their financial data with rivals. While the banks are supportive of the general move, submissions to a Treasury have highlighted the cost of making more transaction data available, with suggestions banks could face costs in the hundreds of millions […]
Australia’s fintech festival to have world-first gender equality commitment
Australia’s inaugural fintech festival will have what is believed to be a world-first gender equality target, as part of an ongoing campaign to drive increased levels of female participation in Australia’s most important startup sector. FinTech Australia today announced that the Intersekt fintech festival would be seeking to have an equal number of female and male speakers. Intersekt is being held in Melbourne, Australia from 27 October to 3 November. It is set to be the most influential and exciting event of its type in Asia. It includes a two-day Collab/Collide Summit, a three-day hackathon, two community days and a one-day blockchain event. The State Government of Victoria is Intersekt’s […]
From UNSW to Silicon Valley: young entrepreneur attracts major funding
One UNSW student’s experience with a startup company illustrates the unpredictable nature of entrepreneurship and the value of programs like UNSW Startup Launch. Last year, UNSW Sydney Computer Science and Engineering student Stefan Qin was accepted into the University’s Startup Launch pre-accelerator program for high-potential founders with innovative startup ideas. His start-up, Dime, went on to win first prize at a Startup Launch pitch night, with a concept that used blockchain technology to significantly reduce the cost and time delay of foreign exchange transactions. Now, the 20-year-old has closed a $US3.18 million funding round for his new business, Virgil Capital, a global venture in cryptocurrency trading and investment management in […]
Fintech slams aggregator “monopoly”
A heated statement by emerging fintech Hero Broker has accused major aggregator groups of working together and stacking the deck against newcomers to the industry. In a submission to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Competition in Australia’s Financial System released last Wednesday (27 September), Clint Howen, founder of Hero Broker, called upon the commission to examine the role that aggregators play in the market. He recounted his experiences with the major aggregator groups, claiming that Hero Broker was denied entry into the market despite meeting the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) compliance regulations. He claimed that there was a “collective discussion” between key figures within the mortgage industry to […]
