Aussie FinTech Octet goes global with new partner in China
Octet, a global financial technology company, has welcomed Asiafactor (CN) Limited as the latest licensee of the Octet platform. A successful Chinese supply chain finance organisation, Asiafactor will leverage Octet’s revolutionary supply chain management and financing platform to enable its customers to manage and pay international suppliers, saving time and freeing up their cashflow. Asiafactor will offer the Octet-enabled platform to serve both existing domestic small to medium enterprises, as well as to a vast range of prospective exporters throughout China. Customers leveraging the platform will be able to use their existing credit cards or other financing facilities to pay global suppliers at competitive exchange rates, removing the need for […]
Bitcoin available over the counter at a newsagency near you
Two Australian tech start-ups are launching an over-the-counter platform for selling Bitcoin making it available to everyday consumers and providing online retailers and the newsagents offering the service more income streams. It means Australians will be able to buy Bitcoin over the counter with cash for the first time. The technology is being deployed to about 1200 newsagents nationally effectively making them Bitcoin bank outlets and giving many in the struggling industry a new strand to diversify their revenue. There are currently Bitcoin exchanges in Australia which facilitate online transactions and transfer money but no over-the-counter solution for cash to buy Bitcoin. A 4 per cent fee applies to transactions […]
Need to Know: Practical Bitcoin basics
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard the phrase Bitcoin uttered around tech circles, or maybe even on mainstream news outlets. Maybe you’ve seen Bitcoin as a payment option on stores like Steam and Microsoft’s. But what is Bitcoin, why should you care and is it worth bothering with? As to what Bitcoin is, simply put, it’s way of transferring money around. Some people think it’s a challenge to government reserve banks (probably not) or a whole new system of finance technology akin to the credit card (quite likely), but for us plebs, right now, it’s main utility is cheaply and quickly sending money from A to […]
Next Bank Brisbane presents Brisbane’s first FinTech showcase
The Financial Services and Insurance Industry is Australia’s largest and fastest growing sector. It’s no surprise that the Prime Minister’s office is looking to foster the growth of Fintech to protect its greatest asset from the increasing threat from global disruptors. The Fintech industry is home to some of the best talent in Australia. Following the launch of multiple Fintech hubs in Sydney and emerging startup success stories from both Sydney and Melbourne you could be forgiven for thinking that Fintech in Brisbane doesn’t exist. Admittedly, the Next Bank Brisbane team felt the same way, until they started digging beneath the surface. “When we started searching from the Sunshine Coast […]
OFX launches weekend trading
MEDIA RELEASE – Customers can now make international money transfers 24/7 OFX (formerly OzForex), one of the world’s largest international payment businesses, has today launched 24 hour, 7 day a week trading, giving customers the convenience to transact on weekends. The 24/7 international payments service is part of OFX’s strategy to focus on its customers and will increase the company’s operating leverage against its competitors. The service will enable customers to make international transfers at the same great rates, speak to an OFX customer representative and check current exchange rates 363* days of the year, 24 hours a day. Instead of waiting until Monday to speak to a representative, customers […]
Fintech a $US1 trillion fight
Consultants Oliver Wyman has been talking to banking clients all around the world over the past few months about the concept of “modular financial services”. It’s the coverline adorning one of the firm’s latest research pieces on the impact of information technology on the future of banking. Even as the equity prices of US fintech poster children like Lending Club and OnDeck are pummelled as capital markets reassess valuations, incumbent banks around the world show no sign of losing interest in fintech. Indeed, if the interim results of three of Australia’s big four banks last week were any guide, thinking about fintech in the C-suite is only accelerating. The earnings […]
