Meet eight fintechs changing financial services
When you have just seven minutes to sell your idea as the next big thing to change banking and investment, every moment counts. Thirty of the country’s best fintechs are pitching to a room full of 160-plus bankers, brokers and venture capitalists at the Grand Hyatt ballroom in Melbourne, where their story, business plan and even looks are all being judged. From payments to wealth management, peer-to-peer lending and crowd funding, fintech start-ups are taking aim at the heart of the financial services industry and a pot of revenues that Goldman Sachs estimates at $4.7 trillion. The banks are all vying for a stake in these disrupters before they join […]
WorldRemit chooses Australia to springboard growth in Asia-Pacific
Global leader in Mobile Money transfers appoints Michael Liu to drive growth in region. Mobile Money transfer service WorldRemit – the UK’s fastest-growing technology firm1 – has chosen Australia as its base in Asia-Pacific. One of Europe’s biggest FinTech services, the WorldRemit app, lets migrants send money instantly to their friends and family abroad in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. WorldRemit is the leading sender of remittances globally to Mobile Money services, which have emerged as the payment system of choice in many developing countries where large numbers of people lack access to traditional banking services. With Mobile Money, people can instantly receive money transfers on their phones […]
Fintech targets trillion dollar profits
Analysis by McKinsey and Co suggests the trillion dollar profits of traditional banks are vulnerable to being leeched by more than 12,000 fintech start ups. The digital innovators, often targeting a single link of the value chain, pose a grave threat to the business model of the old banking houses. Banks have long made their money by bundling a number of businesses together and relying on the stickiness of life-long customer relationships to rake in super profits on high margin products and services such as investment management, foreign exchange and credit cards. Challengers like Paypal, Nerdwallet and Wealthfront have targeted the profit centres while ignoring the low returns on basic […]
Blockchain technology – why all the hype?
As one of the most talked about emerging technologies, some say blockchain technology could revolutionize everything from stock exchange settlements and transport logistics to voting or welfare payments. So what is it and why is it relevant to financial advisers? Internationally, the benefits and wide range of possible uses for blockchain technology have been touted for a couple of years now. Within Australia, it’s gained some ground after a recent Australian Securities Exchange decision to examine its use for a new clearing and settlement system that’s faster and cheaper than the existing CHESS system. To enable this effort, the ASX bought a five per cent stake ($14.9 million) in Blythe […]
Waddle Integration With Xero Transforms Invoice Financing
Media Release Waddle Loans Pty Ltd (Waddle) has today announced a first-of-its-kind invoice financing product that integrates with Xero’s cloud accounting software. The solution is available through Xero’s Australian add-on marketplace giving small business owners a simple way to fix their cash flow by establishing a revolving line of credit based on the businesses unpaid invoices within Xero. This new financing solution enables small businesses to use their Xero data to boost cash flow by drawing funds against unpaid invoices the instant they are created, automating every aspect of the financing through a two-way real-time data exchange made possible by the connection. The new offering transforms the traditional “factoring” system, whereby small businesses sell outstanding invoices to a third party financier in […]
Banks and fintechs at war over password sharing
Micro investment company Acorns has accused ANZ Banking Group and other banks of telling customers they can’t share account passwords with the start-up, retarding its growth. Fintech Australia, the new lobby group for financial services start-ups, has formed an “open data subcommittee” to push for changes to the ePayments Code to make it clear that bank customers can give passwords to fintechs without banks having to provide approval. Sharing passwords with fintechs is a legal grey area. Acorns, which invests small change in exchange traded funds, lets users see their bank account activity and round up transactions to the nearest dollar. The app then invests the “change” in an investment […]
Winklies, Dorsey Hunt Oz Biz
New York’s Winklevoss twins, the ex-Olympic rowers who famously – and unsuccessfully – sued Facebook for a fortune in 2011, claiming founder Mark Zuckerberg had stolen their idea, have confirmed plans to bring their bitcoin technology to Australia. The twins – Tyler and Cameron – who have since successfully set up a well-regarded bitcoin exchange in New York – have reportedly been negotiating with Melbourne-based Trimantium to help bring their blockchain technology Down Under. Their presence might well be welcomed here, given the problems the local industry has been experiencing, with one outfit, Bitcoin Group, recently refused entry to the ASX for want of an acceptable financial report (CDN, Feb. […]
Global regulators move closer to regulating fintech
Global regulators have moved closer to regulating the fledgling fintech sector, which includes blockchain technology that supports bitcoin, to ensure the industry’s rapid growth does not pose any risks to the financial system. The Financial Stability Board (FSB), which met in Tokyo on Thursday, has agreed on a framework for categorising different components of fintech and assessing their potential risks. The FSB, made up of central bankers, regulators and finance ministry officials from the Group of 20 economies, is looking at fintech partly in response to uncertainty over whether it will “disrupt” traditional banking. Some big investment banks, including Goldman Sachs , are already investing heavily in fintech to avoid […]
