The growing popularity of peer-to-peer lending
Years ago, the financial services offered to people who wanted to profit from their savings was very cut and dry. You would either invest your money in the stock exchange, property, or in a term deposit account, to gain interest on your principal investment. Now, investors have the opportunity to expand their portfolio and commit their funds to newer, and arguably more exciting, investment options. Peer-to-peer lending (P2P) This disruption to traditional financial services is due to the growing popularity of peer-to-peer lending (P2P) in the market. This lending process is a method of debt financing that allows individuals to borrow and lend money without the use of an official […]
Wyatt Roy joins Sunrise’s David Koch in fintech fund H2Ocean
Former assistant minister for innovation Wyatt Roy has taken his first jobpost-politics, joining Sunrise host David Koch as an independent director of a proposed $55 million publicly listed fintech fund. Mr Roy, who was dumped from his seat of Longman in the last election, settled on a role with H2Ocean where he’ll be paid $60,000 per year, and will hold 10,000 shares at the offer’s completion. According to H2Ocean’s prospectus Mr Roy will join David Koch and Beyond Bank Australia chair Anne O’Donnell at the fund co-founded by Ben and Toby Heap, which will be offering a “diversified global portfolio of early and growth stage financial technology companies”. The fund […]
ASIC lays out robo-advice rules for financial services
The corporate watchdog has published its guidelines for financial services companies offering so-called robo-advice in the burgeoning automated advice sector. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has laid out what constitutes personal advice as opposed to general advice to clarify when an Australian financial services (AFS) licence is required by companies providing automated advice using algorithms. Five months after issuing its draft guidelines, ASIC also highlighted the need for rigorous testing of the algorithms used to provide recommendations through a website or app where users seek tailored financial advice. ASIC said that, with only about 20 per cent of adult Australians seeking personal advice, digital advice has the potential to […]
InvestSMART records profit surge as investors flock to robo advice
InvestSMART Group Ltd (ASX: INV), Australia’s largest provider of automated investment advice to retail clients and self-managed super funds, today announced its profit had surged in the year to June 30, 2016 as the group expanded its range of robo advice tools and content services. In a year that was focused on business consolidation, cost restructure and systems development to improve scalability, InvestSMART’s operating profit before tax and amortisation jumped from $131,204 to $2.41 million. The result, and the focus on improving services to members, set the scene for organic growth in member engagement and revenue in FY2017 as the numbers of investors turning to the group’s sophisticated robo advice […]
IFAs and accountants seek out robo-advice
Stockspot, Australia’s leading automated investment adviser, has launched its partners programme for advisers, accountants and other professionals. The programme will allow selected financial professionals to partner with Stockspot for their clients. Stockspot will managethe client’s portfolio including all advice, investing, compliance, rebalancing and tax reporting. The IFA or accountant has full visibility of their clients’ portfolios via an online investment dashboard and receives updates on the strategy and client’s financial profile. Stockspot also simplifies tax reporting via its recently announced integration with Class Super. Stockspot CEO and founder, Chris Brycki said: “In the last 12 months, with the increased spotlight on the robo-advice industry in Australia, we’ve had a lot […]
Australia recognised for embracing fintech startups
Australia is establishing hubs and improving business conditions for fintechs. Despite tough market conditions and a global drop in investments, Australia has been praised as a forward-thinking, cultivator of venture-capital (VC) backed fintech startups. KPMG and CB Insights analysed the global status and outlook of fintech venture funding in their Pulse of Fintech Q2 2016 report and found VC-backed fintech companies raised $2.5 billion through 195 deals, a 12% decline in volume compared with Q1 2016. However, funding is on pace to exceed 2015 investment levels. The report says that while some jurisdictions are fighting to advance regulatory changes related to fintech, Australia is establishing hubs and improving conditions for […]
The Pulse of Fintech
‘ The Pulse of Fintech ’ is a quarterly report created by KPMG along with KPMG Enterprise’s Global Network for Innovative Startups and CB Insights (the ‘go to’ name for insights related to venture capital investment) which launched on August 17th, 2016. The series analyses the latest global trends in venture capital investment data on the fintech sector. Given the significant interest in fintech globally, and its ongoing evolution in terms of market drivers, technologies and potential use-cases, KPMG and CB Insights are partnering to bring you the pulse on fintech investment globally. Each quarter, we’ll highlight key fintech deals, issues and challenges around the world, in addition to key […]
Barry Lambert backs robo-adviser Ignition Wealth
Financial planning pioneer and Australia’s 167th richest person Barry Lambert has taken another leap into the future, pairing his chairmanship of cloud-based self-managed super administrator Class with a $1 million stake in digitally led adviser Ignition Wealth. Class, which Lambert has chaired for eight years, on Tuesday announced a 71 per cent rise in net profit for the year ended June 30 to $5.83 million. Its Class Super product now administers more than 19 per cent of Australia’s 576,000 self-managed super funds. Ignition Wealth, launched in 2008 as a pure robo-adviser called Advice Connect, is also gaining traction since in February 2015 becoming the first digitally led adviser to be […]
