Aussie crowdfunding regulation gets an overdue watering down
Aussie financial services regulator ASIC has rejigged crowdfunding regulation, allowing poorer investors to participate. Aussie corporate watchdog ASIC has made it easier for start-ups to raise funds by issuing equity to investors, following up on legislation passed in March in which the Australian government watered down crowdfunding regulations. The new regulation will allow small and unlisted companies to crowdfund up to A$5 million a year, starting late September. It will also allow poorer investors to participate. Previous regulations allowed only those with more than $2.5 million in assets to buy securities through crowdfunding. But the regulator has warned that robust restrictions will be in place, including limitations on advertising and […]
Australians embrace FinTech as adoption rates double in just 18 months
Digitally active Australian consumers are embracing FinTech at a rapid pace, with Australia now ranked fifth highest in FinTech adoption among 20 markets surveyed globally, according to the latest EY FinTech Adoption Index. China has the highest level of FinTech adoption globally at 69%, followed by India (52%), the UK (42%) and Brazil (40%), with Australia (37%) rounding out the top five. The study, based on 22,000 online interviews with digitally active consumers across 20 markets, including Australia, shows that FinTech services are poised for mainstream adoption on a global scale with an average of one in every three (33%) digitally active consumers now using FinTech. EY FinTech spokesperson, Rowan […]
FinTech Interviews: GROW Super
by Matthew Parker, The Mitchellake Group Over the coming weeks, I will have the pleasure of sitting down with many of Australia’s leading FinTech CEOs. Each will be discussing the specific vertical of Financial Services they are looking at and share their insights. For the first interview in this series, I sat down with the CEO of GROW Super, Josh Wilson, to discuss the stream of innovation that is occurring in the Superannuation vertical. Matthew Parker (MP): There have been a few new “disruptive” superannuation businesses launch over the past 2 years. Why is this happening now? What has created the right circumstance for this to occur? Josh Wilson […]
Bitcoin looks a lot like an early Amazon
by Gordon Scott. You might as well get used to the Bitcoin headlines. They aren’t going away. And that’s because cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin aren’t going away. If history is any guide, this may only be the beginning. Bitcoin may be the most lucrative trading opportunity since internet stocks such as Amazon.com Inc. in the dot-com era. If that notion sounds as scary as it does exciting, it should. While it is true that trading digital currencies holds real risk, there is also a real opportunity for traders right now. Please note that I said traders here, not investors. Even if it were true that investors could multiply their money, they […]
Former AFL star Ted Richards’ goal for robo adviser Six Park
Ted Richards learnt an important investment lesson as a young footballer, one that would lead him to pursuing a career in the financial services sector after he retired from sport. Richards was drafted to AFL club Essendon as a 17-year-old in late 2000 and once in the sporting system found himself getting paid relatively well for someone his age and wondering what to do with his money. A gift from his father, the Peter Lynch book One Up On Wall Street, gave him the idea of dabbling in the stock market. “I was 17, living at home and didn’t have a lot of expenses, so when I started getting pay […]
High schooler becomes millionaire thanks to Bitcoin
The rags-to-riches stories about Bitcoin investors are a consistent theme with the rise in the value of Bitcoin over the past six months. The most recent is Erik Finman, who invested USD$1,000 in Bitcoin in 2011 when it was valued at USD$12. His parents had made an agreement with him that if he were a millionaire by 18, he wouldn’t have to attend college. A child of two Stanford Ph.D. holders, Finman was willing to take the bet. He now holds 403 Bitcoins, which, at their current valuation of USD$2,700, represent USD$1.09 mln. He also manages investments for the rest of his family, who have begun looking into Bitcoin as […]
The finalists for the 2nd Annual Australian FinTech Awards 2017
The 2nd Annual Australian FinTech Awards 2017 celebrate the achievements of the dynamic people and businesses comprising the FinTech sector. These Awards seek to recognise success in the FinTech sector in its many forms. This event will be an evening of celebrating the best innovation, created by the best innovators and entrepreneurs that live and work in Australia. Here are the finalists for the 2nd Annual Australian FinTech Awards 2017 to be held Thursday 22 June in Sydney: FinTech Innovation in payments Tyro Payments ZipMoney Afterpay FinTech Innovation in Wealth Management (Robo-Advice) Acorns Grow Australia Six Park Pocketbook FinTech Innovation in Lending SocietyOne MoneyMe Financial Group Tyro Payments […]
Exchange traded fund opportunities and risks
Australia is a long way from having “biblical” exchange traded funds (ETFs), as the US does, that exclude companies that support lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender rights. But a rush of new ETFs in this market is creating controversy. Local issuers expect a massive conversion of investors into ETFs in the next five years, tripling the market’s size and disrupting the wealth-management industry. If product promoters are right, ETFs will revolutionise how hundreds of thousands of people invest. iShares Australia director Jon Howie believes Australia’s ETF market could hit $100 billion in assets by 2023, from $29 billion in May 2017. “There’s no reason why ETFs cannot account for around […]
