Investing

Feb
16

Fintech sector falling short on adviser-focused solutions

To the frustration of many Australian financial advisers, the fintech sector has not yet delivered effective tools for the financial planning industry. Most of the current activity in the sector is focused on offering solutions for individuals – and these offerings are struggling to convince consumers to pay directly for them. There is a clear unmet need in the adviser space. Wayne Robinson, InvestmentLink Chief Technology Officer, believes that the industry should be focused on meeting this unmet demand. He says it’s also the market that will be willing to pay for the right solution. “We think that advisers will be happy to pay for a platform that delivers what […]

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BetaSmartz automated investment launches in Asia

BetaSmartz, the B2B automated investment platform for all sizes of investors, from institutional to retail, today announced it had opened offices in Hong Kong. BetaSmartz offers ‘hybrid ‘ digital investment or ‘robo’ advice that combines automated and face-to-face financial advice. Newly appointed Managing Director Asia, Zak Allom, said this model had been well received since its launch in 2015, with several clients now live including two in the U.S. “Robo has been a big buzzword, but for the most part the actual delivery hasn’t been different from the automated financial planning software we’ve been used to since the 90s,” he said. “BetaSmartz is much more than a sexy front end […]

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Feb
15

Lender invests $100k in fintech start-up

A leading specialist lender has partnered with a fintech incubator to back a start-up in a program aimed at “re-inventing the financial services sector in Australia”. After hosting a two-day hackathon in December, which saw 20 entrepreneurs from different sectors come up with solutions to “revolutionise” the industry, Pepper Money and Pollenizer have chosen fintech start-up SmallStash to receive 12 weeks of training and financial support to further progress its ideas. The group’s focus is financial education for children, assisting parents to better educate them regarding money and savings. Pepper Money has invested almost $100,000 in the 12-week incubator program, with the funds contributing to supporting the start-up, including the […]

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Feb
14

Peer to peer economy now worth over $15 billion a year

Higher levels of consumer trust in the sharing economy, have coincided with a $600 million increase in size over the past six months, according to a newly released report. The bi-annual Sharing Economy Trust Index, produced by peer-to-peer lender RateSetter, showed that trust in ride sharing platforms such as Uber and online marketplaces like eBay have grown the most. “Our research found that trust levels in the sharing economy have increased substantially over the last six months,” said Daniel Foggo, RateSetter CEO. With the sharing economy now worth over $15 billion a year, the study revealed that over two thirds of Australians actively participate in the market – whether by […]

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Feb
14

Dart aims for a United States of Fintech

Australian tech entrepreneurs have launched a new digital home for the global fintech community, providing an agnostic platform that founders hope will one day become the seat for an inclusive and encyclopaedic fintech commonwealth. Founder and CEO, Cameron Dart, told AB+F that the International FinTech platform, combines a web portal and directory to meet growing demand from the global community to have a dedicated, online and natively fintech presence for a sector that transcends borders. “We like to think of it as the beginnings of a LinkedIn for fintech,” Dart said. This week’s launch, built on the back of the original Australian FinTech, already encompasses more than 1,000 global fintech companies […]

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Feb
14

Fintech start-up PromisePay becomes Assembly Payments, signs key Gumtree deal

Well-backed Melbourne-based fintech start-up PromisePay has taken the bold move to change its name at the same time as announcing one of its most important deals to date, with eBay-owned online marketplace Gumtree. The company, which last year closed a $14 million Series A funding round with Australian tech VC fund rampersand, Westpac’s Reinventure, 99Designs co-founder Mark Harbottle and former Hitwise CEO Andrew Walsh, will now be known as Assembly Payments. PromisePay had already picked up a strong roster of more than 100 Australian and international clients including Airtasker, hipages, Flippa and Carsales.com.au for its online marketplace payments platform. It enables payments to be held in escrow, so a customer […]

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Feb
14

Too slow out of the blocks

Blockchain is hands down the most talked about piece of technology in recent memory but the level of investment in Australia on distributed ledger solutions isn’t quite in step with the enthusiasm on display from our corporate set. Sydney start-up Veredictum’s chief executive Tim Lea said the current state of affairs was completely out of synch with the hype around blockchain. According to Mr Lea, Australia ranks behind Panama, Mexico, Argentina, Barbados and Kenya when it comes to putting money into blockchain. With $1.3 billion invested to date in the technology globally, Australia’s share of that pie is a paltry 0.04 per cent. Most of the interest is unsurprisingly coming […]

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Feb
14

Ignition Wealth announces goals-based investing

Ignition Wealth CEO Mark Fordree today announced a groundbreaking development as Ignition Wealth becomes the first Australian ‘robo-adviser’ to offer goals-based investing. Ignition Wealth has appointed SiResearch to provide adaptive asset allocation built around goals which have a specific objective and timeframe. Traditional risk assessment has focussed on the investor’s long-term goals, often focussing simply on retirement. The goals-based model acknowledges that investors’ goals may fall into several buckets including short term, medium term and legacy.   “In reality an investor’s attitude to risk is influenced by what their goal is and the date by when they want to achieve it. The SiResearch goals-based investment model adds a specific objective […]

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