Australia pushes ISO for blockchain standards
Australia’s peak standard-setting body, Standards Australia, is calling on the International Standards Organisation to begin work on global standards for blockchain. The organisation has asked the Geneva-based ISO to begin working on standards for blockchain, the technology behind digital currency bitcoin, offering the assistance of Australian expertise. The ASX has recently taken a stake in New York-based Digital Asset Holdings, which is working on the potential to use its blockchain technology to help replace its CHESS sharemarket clearing system, while the Australian banks are also reviewing the potential uses of the distributed ledger technology. “We have had sufficient stakeholder support to put this proposal to the ISO,” Standards Australia’s acting […]
Australians doing business in China
Trade Minister Steve Ciobo will lead one of the country’s largest business delegations ever assembled to Australia Week in China, this year held across several Chinese cities. The aim is to highlight commercial opportunities in various business sectors, ranging from agribusiness and finance to education and food. We asked four Australian executives doing business with and living in China five questions. They share the challenges and the opportunities of doing business in China, as well as the importance of “guanxi” — a concept largely credited to the Chinese and their approach to networking and relationships. What inspired you to do business in China? China is one of largest and most […]
Standardisation of data access crucial to development of Australian fintech industry
Media Release: Sydney, 4 April 2016 – One of the major challenges facing the emerging Australian fintech sector is the lack of a standardised format for accessing financial data. The complexities of accessing sufficient institutional and client data will be a major limiting factor for many of the fintech companies now trying to establish themselves in the Australian and international markets. Earlier this month, in its statement on the fintech sector, the Government highlighted the need to increase data availability across the financial service sector, to allow new products and services to be developed and support new offerings made available to the market. While supporting the Government’s initiative, InvestmentLink Chief […]
ACCC wants effects test to protect fintech start-ups from banks
Competition tsar Rod Sims says the effects test introduced to competition law must be strong enough to protect emerging fintech start-ups from anti-competitive behaviour from the big four banks. Mr Sims told The Australian Financial Review that Section 46 provisions, which give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission powers to pursue action against individual companies acting unfairly to cruel competition, was much more relevant to financial services players than those in other sectors. His comments come after the rules were slammed by Coles managing director John Durkan, who said the new rules could have prevented the supermarket from investing in a tomato-growing business in South Australia. Mr Sims said he […]
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 […]
Malaysia: The Rise of FinTech – Innovation and Disruption
MALAYSIA: THE RISE OF FinTech Innovation and Disruption Date: 15-16 March 2016 Location: Auditorium Connexion@ Nexus Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia The Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), in partnership with the New South Wales Trade and Investment, invites you to join our exclusive dialogue revealing Malaysia’s burgeoning financial technologies (FinTech) ecosystem and innovation agenda. Why Malaysia In 2015, Malaysia became the first Asia Pacific nation to regulate for equity crowdfunding in its drive to develop the FinTech agenda. Moreover, Malaysia recorded the highest innovation performance amongst middle income countries. With FinTech no longer limited to traditional centres like Silicon Valley and London, and global oil prices at an all-time low, Malaysia’s […]
Greg Medcraft urges innovation on blockchain technology
Australian Securities & Investments Commission chairman Greg Medcraft has called on market regulators around the world to “start thinking about” the challenges of blockchain, the technology behind cyber-currency bitcoin. Mr Medcraft, who is also chairman of the International Organisation of Securities Commissioners, urged regulators to consider the potential challenges of blockchain at a recent meeting in Madrid. In an interview with The Australian, Mr Medcraft said the broader commercial use of the blockchain technology was “on the horizon” with industry claims that it could “save billions of dollars if they can make it work”. He said it also had the potential to “improve liquidity” in some financial instruments, “which is […]
Investec buys into H2 Ventures
This is great news for Ben and Toby Heap, the brains behind H2 Ventures, with Investec Australian taking a stake in their businesses. This is also great news for the Australian FinTech industry. Investec Australia has taken a stake in the fintech accelerator H2 Ventures, a move the specialist lender believes will put it in the box seat to win work from entrepreneurs as they scale their businesses. The amount of Investec’s investment in H2 has not been disclosed but is understood to be several million dollars. David Phillips, the head of principal investing at Investec Australia, will join the board of H2, whose only other two shareholders are the […]
