Australians are being ripped off on currency exchange
Australians are being ripped off by poor currency exchange rates and fees, an analysis by researcher Capital Economics shows. The researcher estimates in 2016 Australian holidaymakers and work travellers paid well over $1 billion in fees and poor exchange rates on their currency exchanges. This figure includes more than $110 million in poor exchange rates and fees for cash exchanged before travelling overseas. It includes more than $930 million on dud exchange rates applied to card purchases abroad, and almost $170 million in charges for overseas cash withdrawals. It’s not only individuals who are losing out. Small and medium-sized businesses are forgoing almost $150 million a year in poor exchange […]
The rise of cashless society – is your business listening to your customers?
You will often hear a small business owner complain about the banks ‘taking their cut’ of every transaction. The cost of having a transaction machine can feel like a big expense for some businesses; and many then pass those costs onto their customers in the form of surcharges. However, with the introduction of tap and go technology comes numerous cost-effective options available to the small business owner – and Australian customers are loving them; a recent survey by the RFI Group reveals that 32 per cent of Australians believed they could go cashless. The same survey shows that Australia currently has the highest use of contactless tap and go cards […]
Who is using bitcoin in Australia?
If you’re wondering who are the major bitcoin users in Australia, they are white males under the age of 34 living on the eastern seaboard, according to research undertaken last month. The research, carried out by Bitcoin.com.au, shows millennials are adapting to bitcoin, the peer-to-peer (P2P) digital currency, just like other systems of “collective commons” such as Uber and Netflix, which provide greater savings and efficiency to customers. Most of those Australians surveyed said they were using bitcoin for the purpose of investment. With the price of one bitcoin rising more than 500 per cent in the past 12 months (August 2016: $US600; August 2017: $US3200), it’s historically been a […]
Payment protection startup EFTsure follows up $2m Series A capital raise with PwC partnership
In the wake of its recent $2 million Series A capital raise, fintech startup EFTsure has entered into a collaboration agreement with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), for an opportunity to mitigate the risk of electronic payment fraud for a larger pool of businesses. Founded in 2014, the Sydney-based venture has developed a software platform that validates the integrity of business payment data. Speaking to Dynamic Business in July, co-founder and CEO Ian Mirels explained that EFTsure’s platform mitigates the risk of payment error and fraud – the latter of which costs Australian businesses $700 million per year – by utilising a cloud-based, ‘crowd-sourced’ supplier database that matches payee names to bank account […]
Australian FinTech Launches Australia’s Only Dedicated FinTech Jobs Platform – Australian FinTech Jobs
The team behind the highly successful Australian FinTech website have soft-launched their FinTech employment marketplace platform, Australian FinTech Jobs. Founder and CEO, Cameron Dart, says AustralianFinTechJobs.com.au has been born on the back of the highly successful Australian FinTech website and growing demand from the local FinTech community to have a dedicated employment platform for the sector. AustralianFinTechJobs.com.au is Australia’s only dedicated platform for FinTech companies and Recruiters to promote FinTech, financial technology, financial services, banking, legal and IT employment opportunities in Australia. “Australian FinTech have built a new jobs startup for fintechs and startups about startups, fintechs and jobs” “When people think of ‘FinTech’ in relation to employment, they might […]
You can use Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin to BPAY your bills
Yes, this will be old hat to some, but you can definitely do more with cryptocurrency than letting it sit in a digital wallet. And you don’t even have to use a chain of different websites to do so. Online, local services exist that let you spend Bitcoin and its progeny directly, including playing bills. The strangely-named Living Room of Satoshi is one service that allows you to pay your bills via BPAY using various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Amounts are limited to $1000, though you can issue multiple payments for bills greater than the limit. What’s interesting (or disturbing, depending on your point of view) is that LROS […]
Sniip to deliver real-time billing
Mobile shopping and payments app Sniip says it has landed a deal with Xero to bring real-time billing to small and medium sized businesses. Sniip co-founder and CEO Damien Vasta said his platform, which uses blockchain technology, would provide a central way for Xero’s customers to receive and pay bills. He said Sniip would be available to Xero’s customer network, allowing transactions to integrate with their accounting system. “Users can scan and pay their bills within seconds using Sniip’s trademarked circular QR code, eliminating the need to enter a long account or payment reference number or bank details or waste time paying over the phone,” Mr Vasta said. “Mobile payments […]
Sydney at the centre of booming Australian Fintech industry
Sydney is home to over half of Australia’s Fintech companies and is helping to drive unprecedented growth in the industry, according to a new report by the Committee for Sydney and KPMG. The report, Scaling the Fintech Opportunity: For Sydney and Australia, finds that the number of Fintech start-ups in Australia has increased from less than 100 in 2014 to 579 companies today, with around 60% of all Fintech companies basing themselves in Sydney. It will be launched at a special event at 7pm this evening by NSW Minister for Trade and Industry, the Hon. Niall Blair. Fintech is by-and-large driven by local companies, with 512 Australian and […]
