New FinTech TaxCapture leverages electronic banking to help banish Aussie tax dodgers
Recent media reports quote Federal Government tax revenue losses of an estimated $15 billion due to the widespread cash economy.
Apple Pay leads Digital Wallet usage
Usage of Apple Pay for contactless payments is set to nearly double in 2017, with significantly more users than both Google and Samsung’s digital wallets. Data from Juniper Research indicates Apple Pay will have 86 million contactless users by the end of this year, ahead of the 34 million users of Samsung Pay and 24 million users of Android Pay. Combined, the three digital wallets will surpass 100 million contactless users in the first half of 2017, before surging to over 150 million by the end of the year. Juniper noted that, while Apple will continue to dominate, growth is expected to continue for all three digital wallets, which increased […]
Westpac customers can now use Samsung Pay
Westpac has today announced their debit and credit card holders can now use Samsung Pay – a first move from the big bank outside their own app and payment technology. While they may have been fighting to collectively bargain with Apple for access to Apple Pay it seems Westpac were happy to jump on board Samsung’s digital wallet offering access to their customers and becoming the first major bank to support Samsung Pay. Alongside Citibank and AMEX, Westpac customers can add their debit and credit cards to access tap and go payments from their phone or Samsung smart watch. Richard Fink, Vice President, Mobile Division at Samsung Australia said: “We […]
From hippie to hi-tech: Byron Bay Bluesfest ditches drink tickets for RFID microchip wristbands
WHAT will the hippies say? Drink tickets will make way for microchip technology at this year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest in a move set to divide the counterculture community of northern NSW. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) wristbands will serve as ‘digital wallets’, replacing the traditional drink ticket system when the five-day annual Easter music festival opens on Thursday. Increasingly popular at overseas events, RFID technology uses radio waves to read and capture information stored in wristbands to simplify entry, reduce paper tickets and ticketing fraud, slash queues for drinks and ATM machines and minimise the need to carry large amounts of cash to events. The new Bluesfest RFID wristbands will give […]
Perth fintech Peppermint Innovation provides payment services to the unbanked in the Philippines
There is much to debate about the growth of Australia’s startup ecosystem, but it is a truth almost universally (well, in Australia, at least) acknowledged that the local fintech sector is doing well, bolstered by government support and corporate involvement. While most startups look to develop sophisticated products and services to tackle problems across every niche imaginable in the sector for savvy local consumers and companies, Perth fintech Peppermint Innovation thought there were significant opportunities to be found with those entirely new to banking. Founded by brothers Chris and Anthony Kain, who grew up in the small town of Narrogin, the company is providing mobile remittance services to the unbanked […]
Fintech Down Under
Cameron Dart is the CEO of International Fintech, a hub that connects Australian fintech companies to the rest of the world and vice versa. The company recently opened a London “launch pad” office that helps Australian startups expand globally and links startups in other countries to the Australian market. To help shed light on the state of Australian fintech, Benzinga caught up with Cameron Dart for a Q&A about innovation and how fintech solves problems for Australian users. Q&A With Cameron Dart What’s the general “lay of the land” of Australian fintech? The Australian fintech industry as a whole is in its infancy compared to the United States and the […]
Bitcoin spikes after Japan says it’s a legal payment method
Bitcoin trades up 2.8% at $1,133 a coin as of 7:08 a.m. ET on Monday. The cryptocurrency’s gains come after Japan announced on Friday that bitcoin would be accepted as a legal payment method beginning on April 1, 2017. It’s the first bit of good news for bitcoin in quite some time. Recent chatter in the market has centered around developers threatening a “hard fork” that would split the currency in two. Additionally, the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected two bitcoin ETFs in March, saying that it did not find the proposals “to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the […]
ACCC says Apple Pay will boost card competition
Apple Pay’s ability to toggle through different payment cards was seen as pro-competitive by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and became one of the key factors leading the regulator to favour Apple over the banks. In an interview with The Australian Financial Review after the ACCC knocked back an application by the banks to collectively negotiate with Apple over access to the iPhone’s “near field communication” (NFC) controller, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the banks’ arguments that such access could increase competition for digital wallets were “strong” – but the regulator always has to be cautious about intervening in markets. At a time when the industry is looking for […]
