Former MFAA CEO joins HashChing
A finance and logistics executive and former MFAA chief executive officer has joined the advisory board of mortgage marketplace and home loan deal gateway HashChing. Siobhan Hayden, who resigned as chief executive of the MFAA in June this year, has joined the advisory board of online home loans trader HashChing. It’s the third top executive the emerging fintech has secured in recent weeks. Financial services regulatory lawyer Claire Wivell Plater and financial service senior executive Helen Lorigan also joined the fintech’s advisory board recently. Ms Hayden commented that HashChing has the potential to significantly change the home loan market in Australia. “HashChing sits at the intersection of customers, brokers and lenders — […]
Fintech moves in when banks fail their customers
In November the Monetary Authority of Singapore will hold a major fintech festival as part of the regulator’s push to promote financial services technology. It’s all part of what broker CLSA calls the Singapore government’s $35 billion campaign to promote technology in the country. A recent Ernst & Young report ranks Singapore fourth overall behind Britain, California and New York in terms of global fintech ecosystems. Australia came in fifth in the survey, behind Germany but ahead of Hong Kong. Australia ranked third behind Britain and Singapore in terms of fintech policy, including regulatory regimes and tax policy. It ranked fifth in terms of talent and capital and seventh in […]
The growing popularity of peer-to-peer lending
Years ago, the financial services offered to people who wanted to profit from their savings was very cut and dry. You would either invest your money in the stock exchange, property, or in a term deposit account, to gain interest on your principal investment. Now, investors have the opportunity to expand their portfolio and commit their funds to newer, and arguably more exciting, investment options. Peer-to-peer lending (P2P) This disruption to traditional financial services is due to the growing popularity of peer-to-peer lending (P2P) in the market. This lending process is a method of debt financing that allows individuals to borrow and lend money without the use of an official […]
Just don’t call us payday lenders
More than 20,000 Australian small business owners have trouble accessing finance (Deloitte Access Economics). Are they denied access because they aren’t good candidates for loans? Yes, in some cases. However, a significant number (37%) of these businesses are denied finance because they don’t have collateral (be it a home or considerable assets) to secure a loan against. Interestingly more than 40 per cent of rejected applications examined by the NSW Business Chamber were for amounts less than $100,000 – it seems traditional providers aren’t interested in small loans, or small business. Archaic systems and processes which serve the interests of incumbent big business are being dismantled in the current global […]
Australia recognised for embracing fintech startups
Australia is establishing hubs and improving business conditions for fintechs. Despite tough market conditions and a global drop in investments, Australia has been praised as a forward-thinking, cultivator of venture-capital (VC) backed fintech startups. KPMG and CB Insights analysed the global status and outlook of fintech venture funding in their Pulse of Fintech Q2 2016 report and found VC-backed fintech companies raised $2.5 billion through 195 deals, a 12% decline in volume compared with Q1 2016. However, funding is on pace to exceed 2015 investment levels. The report says that while some jurisdictions are fighting to advance regulatory changes related to fintech, Australia is establishing hubs and improving conditions for […]
Banks resist fintech push for open data regime
If banks were required to open their customer data to competitors, economic growth would be bolstered through financial services competition and customer service would be improved by allowing fintech companies to create better-priced financial products, argues Fintech Australia, an industry group representing financial technology start-ups. The Productivity Commission’s review into ‘Data availability and use’ is looking at whether a system of “open APIs” [application programming interfaces] could be created along the lines of a new regime in Britain to allow competitors to plug directly into data sets held by banks, such as transaction account activity. Fintech Australia has asked the commission to recommend an “open banking API” regime be mandated […]
Perth firm claims to have created first Australian blockchain
Perth company Ledger Assets says it has created the first Australian blockchain and slashed the amount of energy used by the revolutionary technology. Blockchain technology underpins the bitcoin virtual currency and a worldwide race is on to find other uses in areas from stock exchange settlements and financial transactions to medical records and art, energy and wine trading. Ledger Assets’ blockchain is already supporting another Perth startup – Power Ledger – which is trialling peer-to-peer trading of surplus household solar power which has the potential to further disrupt the centralised power grid. Ledger Assets is also exploring further opportunities in the arts, medical records and insurance sectors using its pioneering […]
digi.cash launches digital Australian dollar
digi.cash, a spin-off company of the Capital Markets CRC, today officially launched the digital Australian dollar. The electronic version of the currency is digitally ‘minted’ as electronically signed coins and banknotes. These can be held on smartphones, computers or storage media. Just like cash, online users can transfer coins and notes between each other via free, instant transactions. The encryption technology used means that the electronic banknotes can securely circulate over public communication networks, without the risk of theft or counterfeiting. Digi.cash founder Andreas Furche, along with Chairman David Skellern and Director Peter Clare, said the launch represented a fulcrum moment for Australian FinTech. “Unlike other digital money products, digi.cash […]
