Pocket money should be electronic to match kids’ spending
PARENTS are being urged to pay pocket money in a digital form as traditional cash nears extinction. While some advisers still recommend teaching children money skills using dollars and cents, there’s a strong chance that today’s primary school students will rarely — if ever — transact with cash. Many of their most common purchases — such as snacks at school, music and video games — are already bought online, and the trend has sprouted a new breed of digital pocket money options. Claire Morris, co-founder of online gift card marketplace Prezzee, said digital pocket money made it easier for parents to monitor spending and saving. “Cash is harder to keep […]
Fitbit Pay launches with ANZ, CBA and NAB
Forget having to carry your card in your sports bra whenever you go for a run or figuring out where to stash your wallet the next time you go for a swim. Fitbit is the latest company to jump on the contactless payments bandwagon with the recent launch of Fitbit Pay. And today, it has announced a massive partnership with Aussie banking giants ANZ, CBA and NAB that will kick off next Monday. Fitbit has also confirmed that it’s in talks with Westpac, Bendigo Bank, St.George and some other regional banks for future partnerships. Available with the new Fitbit Ionic smartwatch, customers of the three big banks can link their […]
No reason why Australia should not be a global leader in the fintech sector
by Scott Morrison MP, Federal Treasurer Digital disruption in financial services is changing the world. The opportunities that spring from this disruption, in a region with an Asian middle class increasingly empowered by choice, are there for our taking. Recently I travelled to Beijing to lead our representation at the Strategic Economic Dialogue with the Chinese government, and meet with major Chinese firms who are investing in Australia. Among the encouraging signs of China’s pursuit of sustainable economic growth, the prudency in which it is addressing debt and its continued openness to trade and investment, is the pace of digital change within their economy. While Silicon Valley, London or Singapore […]
Woolworths & Apple alliance set to increase Aus digital wallet use
Customers of Australian grocery giant Woolworths will soon be able to acquire and redeem rewards points through Apple’s Wallet App. The retailer has made an agreement with Apple to store its loyalty cards within their digital wallet. The decision is tipped to significantly increase the uptake of digital wallets within Australia. With about 10 million members, Woolworths is said to boast the largest customer loyalty reward scheme in Australia. Though not every member will have an iPhone, nor be inclined to use Apple’s digital wallet. Reports state Apple and Woolworth will announce the agreement this week, prior to a launch in mid-October. Paul Monnington, Woolworths’ Head of Digital and Payments, states the decision is […]
The future of FinTech
In case you haven’t noticed, FinTechs (short for financial technology) are moving in fast on the traditional financial services world – or at least they’re trying to. You’ve already been swept up in the FinTech revolution if you use a bank app or contactless credit card chip, pay in Bitcoin, transact with PayPal or take part in crowdfunding or peer-to-peer (P2P) lending. The FinTech movement The idea behind FinTechs is to cut out the middlemen, streamline the process, and give customers a better experience than what’s traditionally been on offer from the banks, which, among other shortcomings, can still take a few days to process a simple electronic deposit. The […]
Australian fintechs well placed as incumbents hook up with one-time raiders
On any given day, the collaboration model increasingly embraced by incumbent institutions and fintech companies means that a major bank will be working with 10-20 fintechs to remove clunky processes that are poison to customers. The narrative five years ago was that banks would crumble in the face of marauding fintech invaders, but trust (yes, it’s still there) and stability have proved to be confoundingly difficult adversaries. Business, though, is nothing if not pragmatic, so it’s no surprise that the battlelines in financial services have been redrawn by the ominous appearance of Google, Apple and Amazon on the horizon. The hope is that incumbency, spiced with a bit of fintech […]
World’s central banks can’t ignore the Bitcoin boom, BIS says
The world’s central banks can’t sit back and ignore the growth in cryptocurrencies as it could pose a risk to the stability of the financial system, according to the Bank for International Settlements. It said central banks will need to figure out whether to issue a digital currency and what its attributes should be, though the decision is most pressing in countries like Sweden where cash use is dwindling. Institutions need to take into account of not only privacy issues and efficiency gains in payment systems, but also economic, financial and monetary policy repercussions, the BIS said in its Quarterly Review. The analysis comes at the end of a rough […]
You can now pay for your Jetstar flights with Afterpay
Afterpay for flights just took off. Afterpay has announced a partnership with budget airline Jetstar, allowing customers to purchase their flights now and pay for them in four interest-free instalments later. For those of you not yet in the know, Afterpay works in a similar way to lay-by, only you get to take home your purchases before you finish paying for them. It has partnered with hundreds of online retailers so far, but this Jetstar venture marks its inaugural entrance into the travel industry. Available from today, as part of its pilot programme Afterpay can only be used on domestic flights, though there are plans to roll it out on […]
