Peer-to-peer SocietyOne completes $25m raising
Peer-to-peer lender SocietyOne has completed a $25 million round of funding, which was supported by its leading shareholders. SocietyOne, now led by former senior Westpac executive Jason Yetton, announced yesterday that its loan book had shot through the symbolically important $100m barrier in the first week of April. This came after strong growth from the beginning of the year, with personal loans and agribusiness finance jumping by $30m. While the funding round has been under way for several months, its completion is a show of faith in SocietyOne’s direction under Yetton, who was appointed early last month, and the lender’s growth trajectory. The company took six quarters until the second […]
SocietyOne’s Yetton: loans soar as banks struggle
New SocietyOne chief Jason Yetton says its loan book is healthy despite mixed economic conditions and record loan growth that pushed the nation’s biggest marketplace lender through the $100 million barrier. Mirroring similar trends by other new “fintech” companies, SocietyOne yesterday revealed $30m of new personal loans and agribusiness finance had been written in the first quarter, pushing total lending since August 2012 past $100m. Rival online “peer-to-peer” or “marketplace” lenders, which directly match borrowers with investors, include RateSetter and DirectMoney, which have also been posting record growth. Meanwhile, the banks’ bad debt charges have risen because of the mining slowdown and lending to sectors facing structural challenges, such as […]
Fintech company unveils major rebrand
Peer-to-peer invoice financer, The Invoice Market (tim), has unveiled its new branding, new website and a significant upgrade to its online client and funder platform. The chief executive of tim, Angus Sedgwick, said he believes alternative finance and fintech companies will invariably disrupt the financial services market, however, more work needs to be done in awareness – which drove his decision to rebrand tim. “The simple availability of a platform will not create business flow. Much work needs to be done at the coal face to educate businesses about this source of funding,” he said. “Since establishing tim, we’ve invested considerable time in ensuring clients and potential clients appreciate the […]
Alternative finance booming in Australia
Australia’s alternative finance lending market is the third largest in Asia Pacific after experiencing growth of 320% in 2015. According to a new survey, Harnessing Potential, Asia Pacific Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report, Australia’s alternative finance lending market ballooned to US$348 million in 2015. Australia was trailing China, which reported US$101.69 billion over the same period, and Japan, which reported US$360 million. The largest share of Australia’s alternative finance market volume was balance sheet business lending, which accounted for over US$120 million in 2015. This was followed by invoice trading (US$105 million) and marketplace/P2P consumer lending (US$43m) in 2015. Marketplace or P2P business lending volume reached $7.05 million in 2015. Source: […]
Australia’s banks could be forced to share data with fintech start-ups
Treasurer Scott Morrison is considering forcing Australia’s big banks to share more of their data with financial technology start-ups to bolster the country’s comprehensive credit reporting scheme. The announcement was made as part of the government’s new policy vision for growing the fintech sector, launched today. It revealed it would direct the Productivity Commission to review “options for improving data availability and use”, including weighing up calls from the fintech sector to make comprehensive credit reporting mandatory. The fintech industry’s request draws from a perceived reluctance on the part of the big banks to take part in the comprehensive credit reporting scheme, which was introduced in March 2014 to allow […]
Scott Morrison scraps GST on Bitcoin, cuts fintech red tape
Treasurer Scott Morrison said digital currencies such as Bitcoin will be exempt from GST and restrictions on crowdfunding eased, under changes to boost the fintech sector. The government will also reduce tax barriers for venture capital investing in fintech companies and is working with the corporate regulator on a “regulatory sandbox” for start-ups that will allow them to focus on developing new products first and regulatory requirements later. Other measures include tasking the Productivity Commission with deciding whether major banks should be forced to share customers’ repayments data with credit bureaus and creating a new “entrepreneur’s visa”, which was announced in December. Digital currency Bitcoin will be exempt from GST […]
SelfWealth announces new product offerings
Peer-to-peer investment start-up SelfWealth is preparing to launch two products at the end of this month aimed at addressing “the frustrations” that consumers face in financial advice today. Known as SelfWealth INTELLIGENCE and TRADING, founder Andrew Ward said the two products are targeted at simplifying stock trading by allowing a larger number of investors to enter the market and take control of their investments. “We’re a peer-to-peer investing group that uses the intelligence of the community to construct portfolios for investors,” Ward said. “Fintech is all about challenging the current norm [and] the end consumer is the number one piece in the puzzle. When you focus on that, [you are] […]
Start-ups to banks: Wake up, Australia
It is Australia’s great sense of complacency that has opened the big four banks up to competition from an array of fintech disruptors, who are forming their own ecosystems to challenge the majors. That was the key message from a panel of financial technology players at a business conference yesterday who argued that the $30 billion of net profits made by the banking oligopoly each year made them a fair target. “Bluntly, the Australian consumer gets screwed at every single step of the way — credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, credit card fees,” says Mitchel Harad of the peer-to-peer lender, SocietyOne, whose backers include Kerry Stokes, James Packer, and […]
