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 […]
VC tells fintech start-ups to target superannuation sector
Australian fintech start-ups are being told to focus their efforts on selling services to the $2 trillion superannuation industry in order to attract venture capital funding. Melbourne-based Trimantium Capital is looking to deploy $700 million during the next 12 months into financial services technology, or “fintech”, ventures and its managing director Phillip Kingston said the super industry was in clear need of better technology automation options to lower administration costs and cut fees. “To date most large funds have either shied away from that challenge or tried to undertake large technology projects in house, which typically hasn’t worked out too well,” Mr Kingston said. An attempt by five of Australia’s […]
More Aussie funds available for fintech start-ups
Australian fintechs say despite Atlassian choosing Nasdaq to make its $8 billion raising, Australia is becoming one of the biggest sources of funding for them with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull an important catalyst. “This is our fourth year. Four years ago we talked to a number of Australian investment groups and there was very limited interest for a company trying to disrupt financial services,” said Beau Bertoli, the co-chief executive of small business lender Prospa. “In the last 12 months we have seen a huge swing the other way. There is not just offshore but onshore money and we should see a flurry of money coming into the industry in […]
Announcing a new partnership: Republic Wealth Management
Sharesight are pleased to announce a new partner, Republic Wealth Management. Republic is a robo-adviser catering to financial planning companies. They take care of the portfolio construction, execution, and on-going management of portfolios on behalf of financial planning companies. The portfolios consist mainly of ETFs. Republic and the advisers they serve will be utilising a branded edition of Sharesight and API to administer and report on client portfolios. This B-to-B approach makes sense. One of the challenges for any asset manager is convincing people to hand over money. This is especially true in the online advice space, which by nature lacks face-to-face meetings and a track record. Portfolios constructed of […]
Western Union bids up to $888m for OzForex
Global payments giant Western Union has offered to buy online foreign exchange company OzForex Group for as much as $3.70 a share, implying a value of about $888 million, as revealed by Street Talk on Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange-listed company is taking its counsel from Gresham Partners. The offer is up to $1.10 above its Wednesday closing share price of $2.60 and its average over the past six months of $2.47. OzForex’s shares have climbed 28 per cent since touching a 52-week low of $2.03 on July 16. The proposed takeover price compares with the $480 million the company was valued two years ago when its shares first […]
Listed fintech business to acquire Chant West
Independent Xplan customising provider Enzumo is set to acquire research house Chant West. Today’s News Acorns Grow Australia readies for soft launch ClearView enhances WealthSolutions wrap LIF to ‘devastate’ IFA numbers, O’Dwyer told Father and son duo join Fortnum RBA leaves cash rate on holdIn an announcement to the ASX yesterday, the listed fintech and e-learning service provider said it has entered into a conditional share purchase deed to buy Chant West for $9.5 million, including $6.98 million in cash and $2.52 million in shares at $0.28 per share. The deal is still subject to Enzumo shareholders’ approval. “Chant West’s research-driven services in the superannuation and pension markets, combined with […]
Banks back focus on technology skills, start-up investor tax incentives
A federal Liberal MP says the government is considering effectively abolishing capital gains tax for investments in very-early-stage companies. Federal Liberal MP David Coleman, a former technology entrepreneur and venture capital investor, says the government’s innovation statement is considering changes to the tax system to encourage investment in start-up companies and seek to lift technology skills. At a StartupWeek Sydney session on fintech hosted by The Australian Financial Review and Reinventure Group on Monday, Mr Coleman said he is talking to colleagues about the abolition of capital gains tax for investors in start-ups, a move that would deepen the pool of growth capital available for entrepreneurs. The government innovation statement, […]
What happened at Wyatt Roy’s policy hack
There were Post-its, buzzwords and diagrams galore at the first ever technology industry and government policy hack, and even the occasional “but I love Australia” protest as teams faced the many regulatory disadvantages to building a tech company in Australia. The collaboration between federal Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy, accelerator program BlueChilli and peak lobby group StartupAUS brought almost 300 public servants, entrepreneurs, investors, scientists and educators together in Sydney. They were split into 10 teams to debate and identify solutions for a challenge that holds back Australia from having a booming tech industry to rival Israel, Singapore, London and even the United States. “Don’t get caught up with […]
