Peer-to-peer lending remains unfamiliar for borrowers and investors
IT’S one of the fastest-growing financial products in Australia but two-thirds of us still have no idea what peer-to-peer lending is. New research by Finder.com.au has found despite the sector growing from one to eight lenders since it launched in Australia in 2012, 65 per cent of consumers don’t know about it and women are less likely than men to understand and use it. Peer-to-peer providers such as SocietyOne, Direct Money and RateSetter are fintech companies that link investors with borrowers using online platforms, typically offering better interest rates than people get from the banks. “Generally P2P providers may have fewer funds to spend on marketing,” Finder spokeswoman Bessie Hassan […]
NSW spends $35m on 11-floor Sydney CBD startup hub
Up to 2500 entrepreneurs will get Sydney CBD desks at subsidised rents, under a $35 million NSW government plan for a 17,000 square metre start-up hub. Comprising levels 1 to 11 above Wynyard train station at 11-31 York Street, the hub’s four cornerstone tenants are all established co-working spaces that will relocate or expand from elsewhere in the city when the hub opens by early 2018 – Fishburners, Tankstream Labs, creative industries specialist The Studio, and fintech specialist Stone & Chalk. The NSW government will contribute $35 million over five years to fitouts and rent subsidies for the four, under a strategy worked out by Jobs For NSW, an agency […]
Aussie blockchain association launches
An association which aims to grow and support the local blockchain community has been launched, and hosts its first event this week. The Blockchain Association of Australia – registered as a not for profit incorporated association last month – meets for the first time at RMIT in Melbourne tonight. The association is led by Chami Akmeemana, director of blockchain software firm ConsenSys, with a board including Michael Hendricks from ME Bank and Paul Xuereb of AustralianSuper. Akmeemana was behind a regtech hackathon in Melbourne earlier this year. “The primary objective is to uplift the blockchain ecosystem and community and to address the critical skills gap in Australia with respect to […]
Cyber fraud a growing risk to Australia’s financial markets, report finds
Austrac, the federal government’s financial intelligence agency, says foreign crime syndicates are also manipulating markets and laundering money. Australia’s multibillion-dollar financial markets are vulnerable to an increasing risk of cyber-enabled fraud, a new report has found. Overseas-based crime syndicates are also exploiting Australia’s financial infrastructure to manipulate markets and launder money, the report by Austrac, the government’s financial intelligence agency, found. Austrac said the risk of criminal exploitation of the nation’s securities and derivatives sector was “at the high end of medium”. Austrac’s work relied on an analysis of 663 reports of suspicious activity from the corporate sector, made by 68 entities. About half the reports involved suspected fraud. Austrac […]
Are digital wallets finally set to take off?
The rise of newfangled digital payments took another step last week, when the Manly Ferry began accepting tap-and-go credit card payments for fares. You might ask: So what? True, it may not sound like much. But this development has got experts in the world of digital payments excited. In an Australian-first, you’ll no longer need a NSW government-issued Opal card when paying for a ferry ride – just a credit card, smart phone or “wearable” device such as a smart watch. The payments gurus see this trial as a milestone that will hasten the decline of cash. More interestingly, it’s also tipped to move us closer to a world where […]
CashDeck and MyMoney partner to educate on wealth management
CashDeck today announced that it has signed an agreement with MyMoney to provide personal wealth management software and financial education to over 1000 of MyMoney’s clients. The partnership will help MyMoney’s clients better understand their spending habits, allowing them to know at any given time what their money is doing. Graham Chee, Founder and CEO of MyMoney, a business that specialises in financial service solutions for self-directed clients, said he has recognised a noticeable shift in client behaviour in recent years. “Where once clients left everything in the hands of an adviser, these days they want to be across their finances and take more responsibility for their outcomes alongside their […]
Bitcoin civil war heats up ahead of key software upgrade
It’s time for bitcoin traders to batten down the hatches. The notoriously volatile cryptocurrency, whose 160 per cent surge this year has captivated everyone from Wall Street bankers to Chinese grandmothers, could be headed for one of its most turbulent stretches yet. Blame the bitcoin civil war. After two years of largely behind-the-scenes bickering, rival factions of computer whizzes who play key roles in bitcoin’s upkeep are poised to adopt two competing software updates at the end of the month. That has raised the possibility that bitcoin will split in two, an unprecedented event that would send shockwaves through the $US41 billion ($53.8 billion) market. While both sides have big […]
What online finance can give you that the Big Four can’t
With dissatisfaction among the big banks continuing to rise, more Australian SMEs are attempting to figure out how they can use alternative lenders to grow their businesses. But that’s easier said than done. With so many alternative lenders arriving in Australia, it can be difficult for SMEs to figure out which is going to best suit their needs for unsecured business loans. How can they start? According to the recent SmartCompany SME survey, which questioned hundreds of SMEs around Australia, 25% of readers said they wanted to get a business loan in two years. Of those, 51% said they would approach one of the big four banks, and 31% would […]
