Artificial intelligence to become commonplace at instos
About 60% of Northern Trust’s Australian-based institutional investment clients believe meaningful adoption of artificial intelligence will occur within the respective businesses over the next two years. Local instos are more bullish on AI than Singapore and Hong Kong-based clients, the global custodian notes, saying the Asia Pacific counterparts anticipate adoption happening in two to five years. Half of Australian clients surveyed also noted high-level stakeholder engagement and counter-party co-operation as vital to financial services’ adoption of blockchain. The findings come from surveys conducted at Northern Trust client events in the first quarter of 2018. Northern Trust head of market advocacy and innovation research, Asia Pacific, Danielle Henderson said as the […]
Prospa float reveals a new world of online business financing
Online small business lender Prospa is set to hit the ASX on June 6 with a market capitalisation of $576 million. It’s a lofty valuation for a relatively new business lender with a net loan book of $200 million and a statutory net profit in the 2017 financial year of just $1.2 million. But the number – settled after an institutional book build for Prospa shares last Thursday – points to the aggressive growth aspirations for the Sydney-based group, which is raising $146 million in an initial public offering fully-underwritten by Macquarie Capital and UBS. In its prospectus filed with the corporate regulator on Monday morning, Prospa said it expects to originate […]
Pensioners prime market for robo-advice
There is considerable opportunity to provide robo-advice to pensioners seeking affordable, accessible and personalised advice, according to GlobalData. The company’s 2017 Life & UK Pensions Survey found that 63 per cent of individuals accessing financial advice used it to discuss pensions, which usually was through visiting online platforms that provided automated advice. GlobalData pointed to the cheaper fees and ability to engage with services more frequently through robo-advice as key to its appeal to pensioners. Insurance analyst for GlobalData, Danielle Cripps, said that pension providers should look to robo-advice to offer assistance on not just saving for retirement, but also helping people at and in retirement. To read more, […]
Prospa books open, offer size reduced
Macquarie and UBS’s equities desks have started beating the drum for ASX-aspirant Prospa. The brokers opened Prospa’s IPO bookbuild on Thursday morning, with news the offer size had been reduced. Some of the online small business lender’s existing shareholders have cut the size of their selldown. Prospa is now seeking to raise $141 million to $147 million, according to terms sent to fund managers. The first $100 million is pegged for the company while $41 million to $47 million represents the shareholder selldown. It had initially been targeting up to $60 million for the selldown. The price was retained at $3.04 to $3.83 a share, as was the targeted market capitalisation […]
Sharesight wins 3rd at Benzinga Global Fintech Awards
Sharesight announce they have been awarded third place at the 2018 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards for Best Financial Advisor or Wealth Management Platform! Sharesight are honoured to receive this award as it recognises that they’re revolutionising portfolio tracking for investors and the finance professionals who serve them. Looking at the range of 2018 finalists, Sharesight said they are humbled to receive this award. There are so many fintechs making a real difference in the lives of everyday consumers and investors.
Anger grows over crowdfund farce
Anger is growing over “farcical” delays to passing the equity crowdfunding bill that would extend the regime to private Australian companies, with the scheme now unlikely to come into effect until the end of the year. There are also concerns that cuts to corporate regulator ASIC will further slow the implementation of the scheme, which has been in the works since early 2013. Amendments to the Corporations Act allowing private companies to undertake a crowdsourced equity funding round were introduced to Parliament last September. Despite broad support by the Opposition, the bill was not passed in the House of Representatives until February this year. It has now spent three months […]
Top-20 banks should be investing in disruptors, says Reinventure co-founder Simon Cant
As Reinventure announces its third $50 million fintech investment fund, co-founder and managing director Simon Cant says its important for big banks to invest in the very startups that are disrupting their industry. The latest fund brings the Westpac-backed VC firm’s total funds under management to $150 million, and follows two previous funds, which have invested in 20 startups. Cant tells StartupSmart that, under its independent venture capital structure, Reinventure is focused on ensuring “our interests are financially aligned with those of the entrepreneur”. Specifically, this third fund will be looking for startups that could be relevant to top-20 banks and their global operations. While Cant says Reinventure will still […]
FinTech Australia announce finalist for The Finnies 2018
FinTech Australia and Jobs for NSW have come together for the second year to host the national fintech awards, The Finnies. The Finnies will culminate in a Gala Awards Night Wednesday 13 June 2018 in Sydney. For more information go here. Here is the full list of finalists for the 2018 Finnies: Best Workplace Diversity ● BRICKX ● FirstStep Investments ● Link4 ● Valiant Finance Emerging FinTech Leader of the Year ● Brad Delamare – CEO, Tank Stream Labs ● Louis Edwards – Head of Renewable Energy Finance, RateSetter Australia ● Nick Molnar – Co-Founder & CEO, Afterpay ● Jack O’Reilly – Director, funding.com.au ● Rebecca Schot-Guppy – Community Manager, […]
