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 […]
DomaCom to crowdfund gay retirement village
Property investor DomaCom is using its crowdfunding platform to raise capital to fund a $25 million gay and lesbian retirement village, proposed near Ballan in central Victoria. In what may well be a world first, the crowdfunding model has been harnessed to drive the staged development of a 120-dwelling estate on 30-acre block, 80 kilometres north-east of Melbourne. “It will be the world’s first retirement village through crowdfunding,” said DomaCom chief executive Arthur Naoumidis. “Let alone being a gay, lesbian, bi and transgender, intersex retirement village: that’s definitely a world first. It’s great. It shows the versatility of our platform.” Already DomaCom is nearing the close of the first $1.5 […]
ANZ boss Shayne Elliott hot for start-up investments as it partners with Honcho
ANZ Banking Group has partnered with Sydney-based Honcho to fast-track customer small business registrations, as new boss Shayne Elliott drives the bank to work more closely with technology start-ups. ANZ’s managing director of corporate and commercial banking, Mark Hand, says ANZ is open to investing equity into fintech start-ups. It could establish a referral relationship with an online business lender, similar to the arrangement Westpac has with Prospa and Commonwealth Bank of Australia has with OnDeck. After Mr Elliott said he wanted his legacy to be defined by digital banking and criticised ANZ’s siloed approach to technological innovation in an interview with BOSS magazine earlier this month, Mr Hand said […]
P2P pioneers banking on bigger piece of market pie
As lending records are beaten on a daily basis, the nation’s biggest peer to peer (P2P) lenders are hopeful the relatively new industry will this year hit that much heralded mark: a tipping point. But Matt Symons, the chief of SocietyOne, isn’t getting “carried away” given the strong growth is off a low base. Nor has he wavered from his firm belief that the best outcome for his business — and the industry — is measured and disciplined expansion, as opposed to chasing rapid growth and writing bad loans that blow up. Indeed, three years after opening, Society One it yet to turn a profit, as ongoing investment, compliance and […]
‘EY Fintech Adoption Index’ – out today
Ernst & Young have now released their ‘EY Fintech Adoption Index’ which outlines how quickly the market is taking up FinTech products. While we are a market leader in the adoption of credit card contactless payment technologies we are slow to take up FinTech products. As our market matures this is sure to change. Exploring a new financial services landscape Driven by innovative startups and major technology players, the booming FinTech industry is capturing traditional market share by offering customers easy-to-use and compelling products and services. We surveyed more than 10,000 digitally active people in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States to better understand […]
Rise in data theft opens door for fintech
The ability to protect sensitive client information will be an integral driver for fintech companies, argues Midwinter managing director Julian Plummer. In a statement, the head of the financial planning software provider said companies that can secure high volumes of confidential data will become particularly important to the financial services industry in the coming years. “Ensuring the safety of all sensitive client data for our advisory clients has become a top priority for Midwinter, and we have taken extreme actions to ensure that information is managed and stored securely, so as to continue Midwinter’s clean slate of zero security breaches.” Zirilio executive managing director Tom Dole said he has seen […]
Innovation – NSW innovation minister says he will deliver three things the startup community is pleading for
He says one of the flagship policies of the state government last year was the establishment of a “world first” government data analytics centre facilitating data sharing between government agencies and allowing for the analysis of the effectiveness of policies. Dominello says the better use of public data can also assist with one of the booming startup sectors in the state: fintech. With Stone & Chalk and the Tyro co-working space, Sydney is leading the way with fintech startups, and Dominello wants it to stay that way. “We’re already the centre in south-easy Asia for banking and finance, so the fintech sector in particular is very, very strong,” he says. […]
What can we learn from fintech disruptors?
On Tuesday Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, declared: “there has never been a more exciting time to be in fintech,” – but in truth, there has never been a more exciting time to be in any kind of innovation. We can’t deny that technological innovation came late to financial services but it’s here now and it’s booming. Fintech has become a multi-billion dollar consumer driven industry globally and we’re on the cusp of something great here. As we grow as an industry, we’re making mistakes and learning from them – after all, that’s what innovation is all about! Thankfully, there is much to be gained from this learning process, not just […]
