Banks will assess loans using real spending data: Basiq
A start-up backed by Westpac and National Australia Bank has developed software to read bank account data and automate the loan assessment process for banks, allowing them to base lending decisions on actual customer spending rather than relying on estimates and indexes. Basiq’s system is being used by Regional Australia Bank, whose chief risk officer Campbell Nicoll says asking customers to estimate spending in various categories during an application process no longer cuts it. “People have just been guessing their expenses,” he said. “But Basiq plugs into our bank, extracts two years of transaction data, categorises it – and that and gives us the true picture on expenses.” The Australian […]
The sacrifices of running a small business in Australia
A new YouGov study of small businesses in Australia has found the lengths that small businesses owners go to make a success of their ventures. The research, commissioned by Australia’s number one online lender to small business, Prospa, shows that more than half (54%) of small business owners spend 6-7 days a week on their business, with one in four (28%) working 7 days a week. Even when not at work, small business owners continue to be engrossed, with almost three-quarters (73%) agreeing that concerns around their business prevent them from relaxing during the holiday period. Overall, nine in ten small business owners feel distracted by work in other areas of their […]
Fintech drops interest rates
A fintech has announced rate cuts across its investor home loans, including a 32 basis point reduction to its variable interest only product. Tic:Toc said the decision comes at a time of falling investor lending. The group has noticed a 33% drop in investment lending in the last quarter to November 2018. According to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the value of investment loans has also dropped by more than 20% over the last year and investment housing commitments fell by 0.9%. Tic:Toc founder and CEO, Anthony Baum, said now may be the opportune time for investors to secure a competitive rate via Tic:Toc’s digital platform. He said, […]
APAC Alternative Finance report shows impressive growth
Australia is second only to China in market volume. The alternative finance industry continues to thrive according to the 3rd Asia Pacific Region Alternative Finance Industry Report by KPMG and the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) released this week. The global fintech sector has seen $117 billion invested in the last year, with $28 billion invested in Asia Pacific alone. Across the region, over 100,000 small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) used alternative finance in 2017 and SMEs accounted for 61% of all alternative finance volume. The Australian market was 2nd only to China for the 3rd year running, raising over $1.14 billion in 2017, an increase of 88% on […]
Digitisation of loan variations ‘more important than ever’
The renewed focus on responsible lending has brought into focus the need for lenders to digitise the loan variation process for brokers, a technology sales director has said. Speaking to Mortgage Business, NextGen.Net’s sale director Tony Carn said that more lenders needed to focus on offering digital loan variations in order to “empower brokers to actually look after customer transactions on an ongoing basis”. Mr Carn noted that lenders had historically focused on digital loan applications for new loans but often neglected similar offerings for variations to existing loans – such as switching from interest-only to principal and interest repayments, moving from a fixed rate to a variable rate, the […]
Home loan fintech raises $25m
A fintech start-up is celebrating a $25million raise as it continues on its pathway to becoming Australia’s “most innovative home loan provider”. Athena Home Loans, which is still in its pilot phase, has closed its most recent Series B raise led by Square Peg Capital. Industry super fund Hostplus and venture firm AirTree also joined the round, taking the group’s total capital raised to date to $45m. The Series B raise comes six months after the company announced a Series A fund raise led by Macquarie Bank and Square Peg Capital and three months after announcing a strategic partnership with Resimac Group. Powered by Australia’s first cloud native digital mortgage […]
Bendigo embraces fintech to offer instant home loans
In its bid to improve its services for potential mortgage clients, Bendigo Bank has partnered with fintech provider Tic:Toc to offer instant home loans starting early next year. The partnership enables Bendigo to utilize Tic:Toc’s platform in offering an automated assessment on home-loan applications. The bank was the first Australian lender to offer a digital home-loan application and assessment process under its own brand. Tic:Toc first launched the platform in July 2017, offering a streamlined digital fulfilment process. Tic:Toc founder and CEO Anthony Baum said the platform promises to cut expenses needed to process and deliver home-loan applications, resulting in cost efficiencies on the side of the lenders. “There’s actually […]
Prospa recognised in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Australia awards for Leadership
Prospa, Australia’s number one online small business lender, has ranked 5th for Leadership and 20th overall in the 2018 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Australia Awards. The awards rank Australia’s fastest growing public or private technology companies based on their percentage revenue growth over the last three years (2016-18). To qualify, each company must have minimum cumulative revenues of $8m over the period. The Leadership category recognises those technology companies who have won a place in the Technology Fast 50 Australia list and whose strong track record of growth has generated cumulative operating revenues greater than $50 million. Beau Bertoli, joint CEO of Prospa said: “We’re delighted to be recognised as […]
