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 […]
Apple offers banks an olive branch
It’s a rare thing to see three of Australia’s big banks, so dominant in their home market, arguing for special dispensation from commercial laws to boost their bargaining position. But when it comes to dealing with Apple, the world’s largest company, Australia’s banks are mere minnows. But with the combination of smartphone proliferation and tap-and-go technology set to revolutionise payments by allowing customers to use their phones like plastic cards, the banks see this case as a cudgel. They’re desperate to retain customer relationships at the point of sale and as commerce moves to mobiles. This fight is an early battle for control of the digital wallet. Apple, banks, retailers […]
ACCC blocks banks’ bid to collectively bargain over Apple Pay
The competition watchdog has denied a bid by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp, National Australia Bank and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to collectively bargain with tech giant Apple over access to its Apple Pay payments platform. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a draft determination “proposing, on balance, to deny” an application for authorisation to allow the banks to form a cartel to negotiate with Apple. A final decision will be made in March. The ACCC said the banks’ proposals could distort competition between mobile operating systems, reduce competitive tension between banks individually negotiating with Apple, and reduce competition between the banks in the supply of […]
Fintech start-up Airwallex chipping away at the major players
Technology companies do not have to reinvent the industry they address – sometimes they can take a small slice of an enormous industry by being faster and cheaper. The Melbourne start-up, Airwallex, is a case in point. Offering flat-fee pricing for foreign exchange transactions will not instantly challenge the big players but given that forex sees a global daily turnover of about $US1.4 trillion ($1.9 trillion), the year-old business does not need massive market penetration to be highly profitable. “There’s 230 million foreign exchange transactions per month,” says chief executive and co-founder of the company, Jack Zhang. A former IT engineer for the big banks, Zhang says Airwallex uses some […]
