Banks team up with their FinTech competitors
These are challenging times for the incumbent heavyweights of the financial services sector. Beset by regulatory, governance, technological, capital, and investment issues, they are increasingly facing competition for business from a whole host of new players, primarily from ‘FinTechs’. Growth of marketplace lending In the case of online lenders, this trend began in the UK in the mid-2000s when Zopa, the world’s first digital and now Europe’s largest peer-to-peer (now called marketplace) provider, launched, quickly followed by the likes of Prosper, Lending Club, and OnDeck in the US. Eleven years on, Zopa has lent around 1.8 billion pounds to more than 150,000 borrowers funded by 63,000 investors of whom 53,000 […]
LoanDolphin completes $1.1 million seed funding
LoanDolphin, Australia’s leading loan bidding platform, has successfully raised a total of $1.1 million from key investors to expand its presence in major capital cities in a bid to claim a stake in Australia’s $1.5 trillion home loan market. Strategic investor Barry Lambert provided $1 million, with the remainder from fintech investment firm H2 Ventures. Mr Lambert founded Count Financial in 1980 and sold the company to Commonwealth Bank in 2011 for $373 million. The seed funding values the Sydney-based fintech startup at $5 million post capital raising rounds. LoanDolphin is a free online platform for people to refinance or obtain new home loans at rates […]
EY FinTech Australia Census 2016
FinTech Australia and EY Sweeney release the most comprehensive analysis of Australia’s fintech ecosystem to date, the EY FinTech Australia Census 2016 FinTech Australia and EY Sweeney are today releasing the inaugural EY FinTech Australia Census 2016, the most comprehensive and detailed report on the Australian fintech industry to date. The research was formally launched in Melbourne today by EY’s Anita Kimber at FinTech Australia’s national summit, Collab/Collide 2016 in partnership with LaunchVic. This significant piece of research was commissioned by FinTech Australia as part of their efforts to foster a thriving fintech ecosystem in Australia. The report identifies important characteristics of the Australian fintech industry, and establishes a set […]
International share trading made easy for financial advisers by Macrovue
Macrovue, Australia’s first global thematic brokerage and trading platform, has taken the wraps off a new global share trading solution aimed at easing complexity, time, and costs for Australian financial advisers and their clients. Sid Sahgal, Macrovue CEO said: “We offer the flexibility to create, trade, and rebalance share-based portfolios built from scratch by advisers, choosing from 20,000 securities and ETFs listed on over 18 global exchanges.“ Mr Sahgal noted that a surprising number of advisers are still using manual trading systems (paper and telephones) to buy and sell global stocks. “Our platform features paperless client on-boarding, one integrated trading platform for global and domestic stocks, powerful […]
Quantifeed makes key hires from leading banks as expansion in Asia Pacific continues
Quantifeed, a leading provider of digital wealth management solutions in Asia Pacific, today announced the appointment of Audrey Wong in the combined role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, alongside several other key senior hires in Hong Kong and Australia. The Hong Kong based company is moving ahead with regional expansion after announcing successful completion of a US$4.5 million Series A round in July. Audrey Wong brings strong financial and operational experience, coming from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she was COO of Asia Pacific Equities in Hong Kong. Her career spans more than 15 years in the investment banking sector, including roles as CFO and COO. […]
Thorney invests in Timelio fund for invoice financing
Thorney Investment Group has seeded the Timelio Capital Fund, a new unit trust to be offered to institutional investors seeking a diversified exposure to the emerging asset class of invoice financing. Thorney and Timelio, a Melbourne-based fintech that has built a peer-to-peer platform allowing small businesses to access funding based on the amount of money owed to them on unpaid invoices, expect the new fund to grow to $100 million over the short-to-medium term. Timelio has also raised $5 million in fresh equity, backed by Thorney and former ANZ Banking Group director John Dahlsen, a recent critic of the big banks. Timelio has facilitated $45 million in funding for small […]
Leading Australian Legal FinTech expert Claire Wivell Plater joins Ignition Wealth Advisory Board
Ignition Wealth CEO Mark Fordree has announced the appointment of Claire Wivell Plater to the Ignition Wealth Advisory Board. “Claire Wivell Plater is a leading Australian expert on compliance and regulatory issues and concerns. Claire’s knowledge, insight and innovative approach will assist Ignition Wealth as we ongoingly develop our digital advice solution. We believe working with industry leaders like Claire will allow us to maintain our position offering a best in class product.”. Mark Fordree, CEO, Ignition Wealth. Claire is a long standing member of the Business Advisory Committee to ASIC’s Licensing Division, and a member of the Federal Treasurer’s FinTech Advisory Group. She is an active supporter […]
AtlasTrend completes $2.8m capital raising
Australian based fintech and global equities fund manager, AtlasTrend, is pleased to advise that it has completed a capital raising of $2.8m to grow its online investment platform and progress its continued disruption of the trillion dollar traditional funds management sector. AtlasTrend provides retail and sophisticated investors with online access to proprietary investment insights and an easy way to invest in four exclusive global equities funds, with portfolios aligned to global investment megatrends focused on where the world is heading – Big Data, Online Shopping, Healthy Lifestyle, and Baby Boomers. AtlasTrend completed the capital raising through new and existing investors, with notable investors including some of the early backers of […]
