Mint Payments expands travel portfolio with new partner agreement
Payments processing technology provider, Mint Payments (ASX: MNW) has partnered with one of Australia’s most affordable and adaptable travel agency software solution providers TravelPartner (Aust) Pty Ltd, signing a two-year licence and distribution agreement to deliver its fully integrated online payments processing service to its growing network of travel agents. TravelPartner has integrated Mint’s card payment module into its core SaaS product offering VTO Ultimate to enable seamless and easy credit card payment acceptance by travel agents for all travel and service fee transactions. This partnership removes the current manual effort required by the agent as the software seamlessly creates an invoice, takes payment, generates a receipt and reconciles it […]
5 enterprise-related things you can do with blockchain technology today
Diamonds. Bitcoin. Pork. If you think you’ve spotted the odd one out, think again: All three are things you can track using blockchain technologies today. Blockchains are distributed, tamper-proof, public ledgers of transactions, brought to public attention by the cryptocurrency bitcoin, which is based on what is still the most widespread blockchain. But blockchains are being used for a whole lot more than making pseudonymous payments outside the traditional banking system. Because blockchains are distributed, an industry or a marketplace can use them without the risk of a single point of failure. And because they can’t be modified, there is no question of whether the record keeper can be trusted. […]
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 […]
Australia needs to foster FinTech with level playing field
The recent Presidential election in the US and the Brexit vote in the UK clearly show that the public in liberal democracies like Australia are tired of failure by governments to ensure social justice is being served on all levels. Political and corporate leaders appear to the public to act with impunity and social policies are not addressing the increasing inequality of wealth. These leaders seem to be out of touch with their constituents, illustrated by the surprise results in US and UK. Leaders in Australia should be warned — they ignore, at their peril, social justice issues such as the behaviour of the ‘Big Four’ banks, who operate in […]
Exchange trade funds to over take listed investment companies by 2018
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are poised to overtake listed investment companies as the most popular pooled investment option on the ASX within two years if current trends persist. ASX data for November shows that the value of ETFs rose by 17 per cent to $24.5 billion, while the value of listed investment companies rose just 2.3 per cent to $30.5 billion. Experts point to the increasing sophistication of investors, regulatory change, growing numbers of ETF strategies available at low cost and the rise of the self-managed super fund as among the key forces driving ETF fund flows. Listed investment companies, which have a long history of performing for retail funds, […]
Start-up women gain $1m to break mould
A $1 million program targeted at female entrepreneurs has been launched to shake up the start-up sector to change its image as one dominated by “blokes in hoodies and sneakers”. Start-up accelerator BlueChilli, with the support of GSK Australia, has created SheStarts, a national accelerator program and campaign to turbocharge female leadership in the start-up economy. BlueChilli’s head of diversity and impact, Nicola Hazell, who is also director of SheStarts, said there was a huge gender gap in that part of the economy. “Australia is looking at how we transform our economy to be innovative and technology-led but we are building an economy where women are missing in action,” she […]
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 […]
Fintech finds itself disrupted as forces of consolidation strike
The consultancy industry’s urge to claim brand ownership of fintech in all its different guises is almost as powerful as the rise of fintech itself. McKinsey & Co is the latest example, stating with its usual gravity that fintech is itself maturing and entering a period of rapid change; in other words, the disrupter is now being disrupted. It’s easy to be cynical, but seriously, what would you expect? That said, the global management consultancy has presented some useful data on a number of trends, including valuations, to support its thesis. Examining 44 fintech companies valued at more than $US1 billion, McKinsey found that the spikes in valuation that occurred […]
