Cards are going to go away, says Citigroup CEO Mike Corbat
It’s a testament to his pragmatism, but Michael Corbat, the chief executive of Citigroup, the world’s biggest issuer of credit cards, is quite happy to concede that the popular financial product is doomed to extinction. “We know, at some point, cards are going to go away”, Corbat says in an exclusive interview with The Australian Financial Review, “and it’s just going to be digital wallet, digital payments.” This is why Citi is putting a major emphasis on “fintech” – from cutting-edge banking apps for mobile phones through to blockchain, artificial intelligence and robotics, to forging partnership with big players such as Alipay, Amazon and WeChat – to make sure that […]
Melbourne ‘buy now, pay later’ fintech Openpay just raised $10 million and cancelled IPO
Openpay has completed a $10 million capital raising round, and revealed it has cancelled plans for an initial public offering. The $10 million, which was originally marked as a pre-IPO round, came from “a group of investors” that included existing backer Meydan Group, as well as Investec and SL Investments Group. The company did not comment on the reasons for cancelling the IPO plans. Business Insider understands that chief executive Simon Scalzo departed the company in August after less than a year at the helm, with chairperson Avi Schechter currently acting as the public face of the fintech. The latest investment also sees Investec head of emerging companies David Phillips […]
Iliad Solutions & Verrency sign long-term agreement
British-based Iliad Solutions has signed a long-term agreement with global payments innovation provider Verrency for implementation of its highly innovative continuous testing software testing across all aspects of the Verrency service. After a global search earlier this year, Verrency chose Iliad’s t3:Switch solution to support its payments innovation service. Verrency is a new provider on the global scene enabling card issuers and their processors to deliver the latest innovative payment capabilities quickly and cost effectively through their existing payments infrastructure. Verrency Group Chairman and CEO David Link said the choice of Iliad was an easy one, as Verrency had designed all aspects of its business around innovation, […]
University of Sydney’s super-fast blockchain gets even faster
World-wide tests reveal Red Belly Blockchain’s impressive speed New global trials have shown the University of Sydney’s super-fast ‘Red Belly Blockchain’ can process financial transactions 50 percent faster than first anticipated – outperforming some market leaders including VISA for world-wide payments. Blockchain technology is best known as technology that underpins Bitcoin. Blockchain is a public ledger allowing secure and almost instantaneous digital transfer of virtual currencies across the world. The ‘Red Belly Blockchain’ is being developed by researchers at the University of Sydney’s School of Information Technologies. Dr Vincent Gramoli, who heads up the Concurrent Systems Research Group developing the blockchain, said trials over the past three months showed the […]
Australia publishes draft laws for relaxed fintech regulation
The Australian government published draft laws on Tuesday that would let financial technology companies operate without a full licence, a measure it said would encourage innovation without compromising existing levels of consumer protection. The draft laws would let companies test “a broad scope of activities…without the need to meet all the existing licensing requirements of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission,” Treasurer Scott Morrison said in a statement, referring to the corporate regulator. Financial technology companies would be able to test products involving non-cash payments, crowdfunding, consumer credit and provide financial advice on pension funds, life insurance and domestic and international securities. The draft laws, which Morrison has opened for […]
Verrency announces Series A funding round and global expansion Innovative fintech to launch operations in US and Asia
Payments platform Verrency has announced a $US 15 million Series A funding round as it continues to expand internationally. The growth-stage fintech provides payments innovation-as-a-service that enables issuers to deliver the latest payment capabilities, fast and cost effectively, through their existing payments infrastructure. By giving consumers unprecedented flexibility and control over how they pay, Verrency’s cutting edge features ensure that their issuer’s brands are top of wallet and top of mind, driving revenue. The Australian-based startup has recently completed an oversubscribed pre-commercialisation funding round raising $US 4 million and is looking to raise a further $US 15 million to expand into key international markets. Verrency aims to close the […]
Link4 unveils new PDF invoice feature
Link4 have released a new feature that allows business owners to process PDF invoices into their cloud accounting system. Link4 was created to deliver an invoice from a supplier to a buyer, instantly. The amount of businesses using cloud accounting solutions continue to grow, but some invoices are still being sent via mail and email. Link4 have seen this gap and are now pleased to announce a new PDF feature as a part of their eInvoicing solution for businesses. This new feature is a collaboration between Link4 and Squirrel Street. “Both teams have been working together in order to offer the users a smooth experience and increase […]
PayPal launches a payments product designed for marketplaces, platforms and crowdfunding sites
PayPal today is beginning the rollout of a new product designed for customers operating larger online marketplaces, like ride-sharing platforms, crowdfunding portals, peer-to-peer e-commerce sites, room rentals platforms, and others. The solution, called simply PayPal for Marketplaces, is designed to be tailored to the business’s needs, based on how much risk they want to manage with regard to their transactions. That means the businesses can decide if they want to handle the payment disputes and chargebacks themselves, or if they want to turn over that responsibility to PayPal to manage instead. Additionally, the new service allows the businesses to customize their implementation of PayPal to fit their needs. For instance, […]
