ASIC lets the fintech start-ups out of the sandbox
The corporate regulator will today release its eagerly anticipated regulatory “sandbox” policy for fintech companies, enabling start-ups to test their products and services for a limited period without having to hold an Australian financial services license. ASIC released a consultation paper in June and has now completed its regulatory guidance, with commissioner John Price set to cut the ribbon. As with all these processes, the fintech industry hasn’t got everything it wanted. However, the final version from an industry perspective is said to be an improvement on the draft, putting in place a sound platform for future improvements. For a start, the AFS licensing exemption is believed to have been […]
EML boss sees cashless society as ‘tap and pay’ technology takes off
AUSTRALIA is likely to be a cashless society within a decade as “tap-and-pay” technology becomes commonplace, according to Brisbane-based EML Payments. The payment services provider is riding a wave of global demand for debit, prepaid and loyalty cards, providing transactions worth $2.5 billion for major Australian and global brands including the Good Guys, Toyota, Ladbrokes, Shell and Sprint. “Australia has one of the highest adoptions of tap- and-pay in the world, accounting for 75 per cent of transactions,” EML Payments chief executive Tom Cregan said. “In the US, it is only about 10 per cent.” Mr Cregan said the move to a cashless society in Australia had been pushed by […]
A great fintech border invasion
If ever there were a banking niche ripe for disruption, it would be cross-border payments. It almost defies comprehension that Amazon can deliver physical goods faster than a bank can make a credit entry. The reason, of course, is that remittances still meander through the 600 year-old correspondent banking system, which requires six players to link up to achieve the final outcome — the payer, the payer’s bank, the payer’s bank’s correspondent, the beneficiary’s bank’s correspondent, the beneficiary’s bank and the beneficiary. The system is clunky, opaque and extremely costly for users. Fintech was always going to find a better solution, and the machinery is now in place for far-reaching […]
Xero + Apple Pay + Stripe = Faster Payments
Xero today announced the integration of Apple Pay through Stripe, making it even faster and easier for customers to get paid. Xero’s 862,000 subscribers can now offer their customers the ability to view and pay an invoice using Apple Pay through Stripe. Invoices paid with a payment service get paid almost 80 per cent faster than invoices that don’t offer a payment service. This new feature is available automatically to everyone on Xero using Stripe where Apple Pay is available. Small business owners consistently point to delays in getting paid as one of their biggest pain points, which puts a strain on cash flow. Xero customers sent 15 million invoices […]
ANZ Strikes Again: After Apple Pay comes BladePay
The ANZ Bank, fresh from establishing itself as a satisfied customer of Apple for its Apple Pay digital wallet system for consumers, has now launched BladePay, an Android-based mobile payments solution for Australian businesses. It describes BladePay as a handheld payment device which is capable of running third-party applications and uses the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system. It features a 5-inch display, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, along with a 1/2D barcode scanner. Wi-Fi and 4G are available as connectivity options. “We are routinely told that managing payments is one of the biggest pain points for business owners, yet when we looked at the market we […]
Data deluge as fintech wave builds
Fintech is here and is going to grow quickly, so businesses need to get up to speed. Those who thought the internet had done all it could to disrupt business need to think again, because a new wave of disruption is about to break as the fintech revolution gathers pace. A new word for some people, fintech (or financial technology) has made it into the Oxford Dictionary. Defined as ‘technologies that support banking’, the word itself may not be in common use, but there’s no doubt everyone is already affected by it in some way. More important than what has happened in the early years of fintech, which has its […]
Apple Pay helps banks sell mortgages and deposits, ANZ Bank says
ANZ Bank chief Shayne Elliott insists his move to break ranks with rivals and do a deal with Apple to allow easy payments on the iPhone is helping the lender sell a wide range of financial products, even mortgages. A day after his key rivals suffered a major setback in their brawl with Apple, Mr Elliott on Wednesday stood by ANZ’s move to work with the US technology giant, which is moving into the bank-dominated payments market. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank want to launch a collective boycott of Apple Pay, which requires banks to surrender revenue in order to access the iPhone’s chip […]
Samsung Pay on Gear S2, S3 sparks smartwatch pay war with Apple
Samsung has joined Apple in offering users the ability to pay by flashing their smartwatch across a retail terminal. Customers who buy Samsung’s new Gear S3 smartwatch or who own last year’s Gear S2 model will be able to pay at shops with the flick of a wrist. Samsung users already can use Samsung Pay with recently released Samsung smartphones, but today’s announcement extends this to smartwatches as well. An ability to make payments from a Gear S2 and S3 watch with Samsung Pay will give Australians yet another layer of convenience when shopping and will let them make payments quickly and easily, says Richard Fink, Head of IT and […]
