Alipay brings QR code or tap-n-go ‘digital payments’ to Melbourne’s buskers
Chinese visitors to Melbourne can give licensed buskers the digital equivalent of a few coins via QR code, while locals can use “tap-n-go” cards in Australia’s first digital payment busker solution. Remember that viral video from a few years ago of an Indian man seeking cash donations from the side of the road from Indian drivers, and when told they had no cash on them, he brought out a mobile payment credit card terminal? Well, what if he could accept payments via QR code instead? This kind of payment system is all the rage in China, making us in the West rather behind our Chinese counterparts, but finally, Chinese payment […]
Bizmoto in partnership with leading Filipino Remittance Co
Peppermint Innovation Limited today announced its online international remittance business, Bizmoto, has signed a partnership agreement with Direct Agent 5, Inc (DA5) – one of the Philippines’ leading non-bank remittance payout providers. Under the agreement, Bizmoto will be able to use DA5’s 1000+ locations in the Philippines as trusted remittance payout providers for its customers and DA5 will be able to use Bizmoto’s online remittance platform to payout money transfers to Australia. DA5 is an authorised direct agent of Western Union Money Transfer and offers international and local remittance services, airline ticketing, bill payment facilities, mobile phone loading services, foreign exchange transactions and mobile payment services. Bizmoto will earn revenue […]
How Bankwest Halo payment ring lets you leave the wallet at home
Bankwest customers across Australia are now able to tap and go using the Bankwest Halo, Australia’s first payment ring. The award-winning contactless payment ring, which is waterproof to 50m, has been produced as part of Bankwest’s focus on empowering customers with new and innovative ways to pay. Launched in January of this year, the device has been named the Most Innovative Card Product and the Most Innovative Retail Banking Product at the Australian Retail Banking Awards. Bankwest Managing Director Rowan Munchenberg said the ring had been developed in response to the changing needs of customers. “’Customers’ needs are always changing and in today’s digital world they increasingly expect smooth transactions […]
Half of Aussies prefer platforms: Stripe
The use of businesses such as Uber, Deliveroo and Vinomofo has reached a tipping point, with a new study revealing 50 per cent of Australians already prefer to use these online marketplaces versus traditional businesses like taxis, restaurants or retailers. The study conducted by Nielsen across nine countries, which was commissioned by payments technology business Stripe, revealed that Australia was significantly ahead of markets such as the US and the UK when it comes to the uptake of marketplaces, but trailed Singapore, where 73 per cent of respondents said they preferred using marketplaces. The Stripe head of growth of Australia and New Zealand, Mac Wang, told The Australian Financial Review […]
Woolworths and Coles embracing digital wallets
Grocery retailers Woolworths and Coles are moving quickly to embrace digital payments as shoppers increasingly shop with their mobile phones and leave their wallets at home. After reaching agreement with Apple last September to store Woolworths Rewards loyalty card details on Apple’s digital wallet app, Woolworths has now extended the service to Google Pay. Android users can earn Woolworths Rewards points in Woolworths supermarkets and BWS liquor stores by tapping their smartphones. Woolworths said the move, a first in Australian supermarkets, would give more of its 11 million loyalty scheme members a simple and secure way to earn and redeem loyalty points in-store. Once rewards details are loaded, customers can […]
Breaking down blockchain’s potential for cross-border payments
By Simon Banks, Hyperwallet’s Managing Director and SVP of Asia-Pacific Blockchain has been labelled a disruptive force that could transform entire industries and even have potential to shake the foundations of economic and social systems. With the advent of cryptocurrencies, the banking and financial services sectors were among the first to feel its effects. In the payments space, it is important to separate the underlying distributed ledger technology from the cryptocurrency hype, and to understand the problems blockchain can solve, as well as the ways in which it can transform payments without disregarding barriers to implementation. Cross-border payments, a space that currently begets frustration but is increasingly dominated by innovative […]
Meet Lex Greensill and the fintech that’s Australia’s newest $2b unicorn
A supply chain financing company with its roots in regional Queensland, Greensill, has become the country’s next $1 billion-plus unicorn, thanks to a $US250 million ($336 million) capital injection from growth equity firm General Atlantic, which also creates the country’s newest rich listers. Greensill, founded in 2011 in London by Bundaberg-born farmer Lex Greensill, 41, provides businesses in industries from telecommunications to manufacturing with working capital based on their invoices, allowing them to be paid faster and fulfil the work, without shortening payment terms for buyers. The capital raise, which is the first for the previously bootstrapped company that had only taken capital from family and friends, values Greensill at […]
Explainer: What is Ripple?
Not just a poor man’s Bitcoin, the currency exchange network Ripple is the dark horse of fintech. Ripple is far more than simply a “poor man’s Bitcoin”. Despite the host of cryptocurrency copycats on the market right now, Ripple isn’t simply copying the status quo. This currency exchange and remittance network actually has a lot more complexity to it than first meets the eye. To help you wrap your head around Ripple, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide to fintech’s most exciting cryptocurrency. Read on to find out everything you need to know about the enigmatic currency exchange service. What is Ripple? Ripple, the successor to Ripplepay, was released in 2012 as […]
