Bank disrupter Prospa readies first pitch to fund managers
Privately-owned small business lender Prospa will start its search for new investors in coming weeks, when it fronts local and offshore fund managers ahead of a planned initial public offering. It’s understood Macquarie Capital and UBS’s equities desks have been booking fundies to meet Prospa management in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Hong Kong during the first week of February, for a non-deal roadshow. Prospa’s expected to be pitched as the first true major bank disrupter in small business lending. It’s expected to tell fund managers it is the biggest unsecured lender to small business and also the biggest online lender to small business, with loan originations of more than $500 million. The meetings come ahead of […]
The everyday Aussie is increasingly choosing a peer to peer personal loan
Peer to peer lending cuts out the middleman (the banks) allowing everyday Aussies to both invest and borrow from each other through a regulated platform.
Bitcoin forks: inside the latest craze to hit the cryptocurrency market
Bitcoin God arrived last month. Bitcoin Pizza was delivered in January. Bitcoin Private’s issuance date is… still a secret. They’re just a few of the growing stable of so-called forks – a type of spinoff in which developers clone Bitcoin’s software, release it with a new name, a new coin and possibly a few new features. Often, the idea is to capitalise on the public’s familiarity with Bitcoin to make some serious money, at least virtually. Some 19 Bitcoin forks came out last year – but up to 50 more could happen this year, according to Lex Sokolin, global director of fintech strategy at Autonomous Research. Ultimately, the number could […]
Lendi taps investors in fresh capital raising call
Online mortgage broker Lendi, which is backed by investors including Macquarie Group, has completed its latest round of capital raising. Street Talk understands Lendi last month ruled off a $25 million capital raise which was oversubscribed and supported by some existing shareholders, sophisticated investors and a number of blue-chip Australian institutions. The company is seeking to take a bigger slice of the local mortgage market after accounting for about 1 per cent last year. Lendi is 40 per cent owned by founders and employees and its big name minority shareholders include Bailador, Macquarie Group and several sophisticated investors. Early investors included CrownBet boss Matthew Tripp. Although it is unclear if […]
Auswide Bank sells stake in MoneyPlace, only two years after investing in online lender
Bundaberg-based bank Auswide is offloading its 62 per cent stake in online lender MoneyPlace only two years after making an investment to “take a position” in the hi-tech sector. The bank said the sale would boost full-year results, and now was “the right time to realise our investment”. Neither the price nor a detailed rationale were revealed, and Auswide had not flagged a sale in recent results. MoneyPlace is a peer-to-peer lender whose online website offers personal loans from $5000 to $45,000 at rates starting at 7.65 per cent.In December 2015, Auswide decided to take an equity stake as well as offer funding for MoneyPlace loans. Auswide will keep funding […]
What is a peer-to-peer personal loan?
In 2018, peer-to-peer lenders are expected to significantly grow their share of the Australian personal loan market. Peer-to-peer lenders are now becoming an established part of the lending scene and new lenders are expected to enter in the next year. Alongside the big banks, the regional banks, credit unions and non-bank lenders, the peer-to-peer lenders are offering competitive loan deals and winning thousands of new customers. How does a peer-to-peer personal loan work? Traditional loans from a bank or credit union are made using funds often sourced from depositors. The bank offers the saver an interest rate on their savings and charges the borrower a much higher interest rate on […]
Can a fintech lending firm disrupt the big four?
If Australian banking needs a fundamental shake-up, it may come from insiders-turned-outsiders, and few fit that bill better than Jason Yetton at SocietyOne. As CVs for Australian bankers go, Jason Yetton’s background doesn’t quite scream ‘disruptor’. High-flyer perhaps, certainly ambitious and across trends. But helming a startup? Yetton started out in 1992 as a graduate trainee in Sydney at Bankers Trust under its then boss, the dynamic Rob Ferguson. There was the obligatory stretch in Asia – in Kuala Lumpur with CIMB – and the polishing stint at Harvard Business School too. By 2008, Yetton had joined Gail Kelly at Westpac in Sydney in a variety of senior posts, rising […]
Australian FinTech Tyro launches SMB services
Australian bank Tyro is introducing new services for its small- and medium-sized business (SMB) customers. The new services include lending products, reports in The Adviser said, that provide SMB borrowers flat-fee business loans that can be provided in minutes. The FinTech is also providing banking services via SMB deposit accounts that integrate with cloud accounting solution Xero. The solution supports batch payment scheduling and payroll and earns daily interest. Tyro added that the account is also compatible with iPhones, which can be used by SMBs to pay bills. The firm is also launching an EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale) technology that integrates with point-of-sale solutions for SMBs. […]
