Founded by the crowd: the new way to invest in Australian businesses
Equity crowdfunding is a relatively new way for Australians to invest. It’s a smart way to collect donations for a charity cause or raise capital for new products and with recent changes to Australian investment laws, crowdfunding platforms can now be used to raise equity capital for a business startup. This change opens a new funding stream for fledgling creative companies to gain investors and get their idea into the marketplace faster. So what opportunities and pitfalls are there for businesses who are considering equity crowdfunding? Three forms of crowdfunding There are three forms of crowdfunding and first up is, Donation or Charity based Crowdfunding, which has been available to […]
Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer says cashless society is just round the corner
Plenty of intriguing insights about fintech were delivered at The Australian Financial Review’s Banking & Wealth Summit last week. So, here’s a selection of highlights, in no particular order. Brian Hartzer says cash is disappearing from the economy “faster than any of us anticipated”. A recent trip to Copenhagen by the Westpac chief revealed the decline of cash in Denmark is being driven by customers. Danske Bank’s MobilePay is being used by more than 80 per cent of Danes to pay each other, after five years in the market. Hartzer reckons 95 per cent of Westpac transactions will be online or mobile within a decade. Other Westpac bankers are also […]
Australian first in-app tool Free2Spend revolutionises the personal finance management game
Today UBank, Australia’s leading digital bank[1], unveiled Free2Spend, a ground-breaking in-app tool that simplifies budgeting. Designed and built in Australia, the innovative new tool delivers users one number giving a daily spend that adapts in real-time. Free2Spend first asks users to set goals, whether they’re saving for a wedding, investment property or holiday or even just saving in general. Users then input income and fixed expenses, with the tool then using these figures to calculate the daily Free2Spend number or ‘one number’. For example, if you’re saving for a $20,000 car, and you have a monthly income of $5,000 with monthly expenses like rent, utilities and bills of $2,500, Free2Spend […]
Open banking a solution to royal commission lending concerns
The government’s “Open Banking” regime will allow banks to meet stricter requirements to lend responsibly that may flow from the Hayne royal commission, experts say, because it will allow each major bank to get the actual income and expenses data from new customers’ existing banks, avoiding the need to rely on estimates or benchmarks. After the banking royal commission expressed concern about ANZ Banking Group not checking borrower expenses submitted by mortgage brokers, ANZ’s business services head, Nigel Dobson, told The Australian Financial Review Banking & Wealth Summit that open banking will “help us to enhance our responsible lending obligations, as we will have more precision and transparency around a […]
Prospa appoints Non-Executive Directors and Chairman
Prospa, Australia’s #1 online lender to small business, has today announced the appointment of Gail Pemberton AO and Fiona Trafford-Walker as Independent Non-Executive Directors to the Prospa Board. In addition, current Non-Executive Director Greg Ruddock has been appointed to the role of Chairman of the Board, having recently stepped down from the Board of Eclipx Group Limited to focus on Prospa. The new Board members will join existing Non-Executive Directors Avi Eyal from Entrée Capital, James Cameron from AirTree Ventures, and Executive Directors and Co-Founders Greg Moshal & Beau Bertoli. Joint CEO Greg Moshal commented: “Prospa’s success has been the result of a group of smart, talented and passionate people […]
Banks bet on AI to win back regulator, consumer trust
International tech behemoth IBM is expecting a significant boost to its Watson Financial Services division in Australia, with the big four banks turning to artificial intelligence in its IT systems to win back the trust of consumers in the wake of the Hayne royal commission and years of banking scandals. Speaking to The Australian Financial Review from his Astor Place office in New York, IBM vice-president of Watson Financial Services, Marc Andrews, said it was already conducting trials with most of the major banks in the country using its cognitive computer Watson for everything from reducing the strain of regulatory compliance, to overhauling the way the banks detect financial crimes. […]
Soros prepares to trade cryptocurrencies as prices plunge
George Soros called cryptocurrencies a bubble in January. Now his $26 billion ($33 billion) family office is planning to trade digital assets. Adam Fisher, who oversees macro investing at New York-based Soros Fund Management, got internal approval to trade virtual coins in the last few months, though he has yet to make a wager, according to people familiar with the matter. A spokesman declined to comment. Soros, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said digital coins cannot function as actual currencies because of their volatility. But he didn’t predict the hard tumble that some observers had forecast at the time. “As long as you have dictatorships on the […]
Novatti launches brand new payments bridge between Australian BPAY and Chinese Alipay
The international online payments landscape is rapidly evolving as yet another ASX-listed payments processor, Novatti Group (ASX: NOV) announced the launch of a bill payment service, able to bridge the gap between Australian supply and Chinese demand. Novatti announced the launch of its new bill payment service chinapayments.com, a financial technology (fintech) platform enabling consumers to pay bills via Australia’s BPAY system, using funds from their Alipay wallet. The race for payments dominance in Australia is truly on with several companies now vying to become the go-to brands to court Chinese customers. Last month, Smartpay (ASX: SMP) struck a deal directly with Alipay, with the deal bringing together the largest […]
