CBA reveals promising regtech AI results, proceeds with caution
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has revealed the results of a regtech pilot that uses natural language processing and artificial intelligence to convert regulatory texts into compliance obligations. Speaking on Thursday at the AI NSW Summit in Sydney, the head of CBA’s London Innovation Lab, Supun King-Jayawardana, said the technology was able to crunch regulation documents into actionable compliance with a “genuinely surprising” 95 per cent accuracy. The experiment – carried out in partnership with Dutch bank ING and overseen by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – applied AI technology from Chicago fintech firm Ascent Technologies to the 1.5 million paragraphs in a piece of banking regulation: Markets […]
Wisr, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank announce $25m wholesale loan funding agreement
Australian neo-lender Wisr Limited (ASX: WZR) today announced a $25 million wholesale funding agreement with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited. The agreement will see Bendigo and Adelaide Bank provide a facility to fund existing and future loans and increase Wisr’s consumer loan book capacity, as well as improving the opportunity for revenue generation and operational performance. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is Australia’s fifth-largest retail bank and a top ASX-60 listed company. It has a range of operations in consumer and business financial solutions, third-party banking and wealth services, and agribusiness. Wisr provides an innovative and secure platform to facilitate loans between funder investors and consumer borrowers. Anthony Nantes, Chief Executive […]
Bank KYC/AML compliance is broken, and blockchain can fix it
Not only is decentralisation the best solution. It might be the only solution. One of the least-sustainable trends in existing financial services is hidden away in the background. Compliance costs, which refers to the cost of handling legal obligations such as KYC/AML, are a growing stone in the shoes of financial services. And it’s growing extremely quickly. According to Thomson Reuters, the number of compliance professionals increased 3.5 times from 2016 to 2017, while financial institutions are pouring billions into transaction-monitoring systems designed to target suspicious behaviour, like frequent large cash deposits. No one’s entirely sure where these investments will end. At a time when new technology is cutting costs […]
Aussie fintech startup wins Barclays’ global Open Innovation Challenge 2018
Aussie trade financing deep technology startup, Trade Ledger, has finished ahead of nine other VC-backed companies from across the world to be named the winner of the Barclays UK Ventures Open Innovation Challenge 2018 in London this week. The ten finalists were hand-picked by Barclays due to their potential to offer game-changing business solutions across a variety of industries, however Trade Ledger came out on top because of the way it completely transforms processes in business lending, through its world-first technology platform. “Within Barclays UK Ventures, we’re looking for companies we can partner with to develop and deliver transformational products and services,” said Ben Davey, CEO of Barclays UK Ventures. “We chose Trade Ledger […]
Bell Potter pitches fintech Raiz Invest for $120m listing
The initial public offerings are starting to flow thick and fast out of Bell Potter Securities. Next up is a $15.1 million raising for fintech Raiz Invest Ltd which, if successful, would see the company list with a $119.2 million market capitalisation next month. Raiz Invest is the new name for Acorns Grow Australia, a micro-investing app out of the United States that has been operating locally since February 2016. It is best known for its “round up” offering, which enables customer to invest their virtual spare change automatically. It says its app also acts as a personal finance assistant for users and allows customers to make lump sum deposits into managed funds and other financial products. Raiz […]
Neo-lender Wisr’s loan origination growth
Neo-lender Wisr Limited (ASX: WZR) is pleased to report on its strengthening personal loan lending portfolio and credit quality position, as at 31 March 2018. The Company’s origination of personal loans grew by 42% in FY18 Q3 when compared with the previous quarter. This was the Company’s largest quarter in loan originations since Wisr, formerly known as DirectMoney, began in 2014. This continues the Company’s significant loan origination growth in FY 18, with loan originations growing quarter-on-quarter by 20% (FY18 Q1) and 79% (FY18 Q2). In the period since Wisr announced a significant restructure in 2016 – which included a new Chairman, new CEO, key executives and business direction – […]
Suncorp launches Apple Pay for Visa debit cards
Suncorp customers now have the choice of Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay to tap and go. If you have a Suncorp debit card, you can now use your Apple device to tap and pay at the checkout thanks to a new partnership with Apple Pay. Once you’ve linked your card, you can hold your iPhone or smartwatch against the contactless card reader at the checkout and use your biometric Touch ID (your fingerprint) or PIN to authorise a transaction. Each transaction is also authorised with a one-time unique dynamic security code. Apple Pay is built into your Apple Wallet on your device, so you just need to add […]
ANZ sees dramatic uptake in digital wallet payments
Almost $600m in six-month period. ANZ Bank customers made almost $600 million in mobile payments during the first half of fiscal year 2018. The bank said today that customers completed more than 18.5 million mobile payment transactions in the half, an increase of 156 percent on the previous corresponding period. ANZ said the transactions were made from mobile wallet services from Apple, Samsung, Google, Fitbit and Garmin, as well as the bank’s own mobile pay service. CEO Shayne Elliott credited the bank’s investment in mobile services as well as the 2016 establishment of its digital bank division – overseen by former Google executive Maile Carnegie. Elliott said ANZ’s mobile app […]
