Australia to be a cashless society by 2022
Cash is predicted to make up only 2% of all payments within the next five years. If you still pay for your morning coffee with a crisp $5 note, you’re a rare breed and clearly missed the “cash is no longer king” memo. New research shows that the number of cash payments received by Australian merchants has plummeted by 46% between 2010 and 2016 alone and currently makes up less than 10% of all payments. According to the research by market analyst East & Partners, if this trend continues, cash payments across Australian businesses are predicted to fall below 5% by 2019 and below 2% by 2022, creating a virtually […]
Financial collaboration platform myprosperity closes strategic investment round, appoints Chris Ridd as CEO
myprosperity, Australia’s leading cloud-based financial management platform has recently closed a $2.5M strategic investment round and appointed former Xero Australia MD Chris Ridd as Chief Executive Officer. The strategic investment round was supported by existing investors, and saw the addition of MYOB co-founder and early Xero investor, Craig Winkler, to its investor base. Established in 2011 by founder and Executive Chairman Peter McCarthy, myprosperity aims to cause a shift in the way households think about and manage their finances. Utilising the latest cloud technologies and connecting with real-time data feeds, it provides comprehensive wealth reports to give the user a true picture of their overall financial health. Myprosperity partners […]
zipMoney to partner with a Big 4 Australian Bank in a $200m financing arrangement
zipMoney Limited is pleased to announce that it has agreed key terms with a ‘Big 4’ Australian bank for the provision of a $200 million asset-backed securitisation warehouse program for its consumer receivables. CEO and Managing Director Larry Diamond said: “This is a transformative step forward for the Company. As well as creating capacity to fund the growing demand for our services, it will approximately halve the weighted average cost of capital of our loan book, which directly contributes to our bottom line. We are very pleased to be partnering with this ‘Big 4’ Australian bank and look forward to releasing further details in due course.” COO and Executive Director […]
Peer-to-peer lenders lead increase in personal loans
Personal loan applications rose strongly during the December 2016 quarter, with much of the growth coming from online marketplace lenders. The latest Quarterly Consumer Credit Demand Index from credit agency Veda shows the number of personal loan applications for the December 2016 quarter was 12.4 per cent higher than the December 2015 quarter. “Growth in personal loan applications is predominantly coming from products offered by new entrants in the personal lending space, beyond traditional credit card and auto finance markets,” says Angus Luffman, Veda’s general manager of consumer risk. He is referring to the new wave of online marketplaces that can offer investors higher rates of interest than they can […]
SocietyOne hits $200m milestone as growth accelerates
Total lending reaches $200 million since inception after record month in November Loan book up 315% in 2016 to $126 million Record quarter of lending in the three months to December 2016 New Chief Marketing Officer appointed SocietyOne, Australia’s leading and fastest-growing marketplace lender, has achieved another key milestone after breaking through the $200 million lending mark. The last three months of the 2016 calendar year have witnessed the strongest growth in the company’s four-year history with an additional $50 million of lending made between the first weeks of September and mid-December. November saw a record month of more than $15.3 million in lending. That took the total […]
Reckon Loans breaks $1Million milestone
Australian cloud accounting software provider Reckon (ASX:RKN) has announced its new Reckon Loans (powered by Prospa) platform has funded over $1million to small businesses, proving the online lending market is growing at an extraordinary pace. In partnership with Prospa, Australia’s leading online lender to small businesses, Reckon Loans provides SME’s a fast and simple service with approvals and funding of loans from $5,000 to $250,000 available within one business day. Reckon Group COO Dan Rabie said Reckon Loans is a disrupter in the fintech space, adding diversity and removing the red tape from the small-business loans market. “This is a significant milestone for our business and clearly shows there’s a […]
An overview of digital currencies
By now you may have heard about cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin being used to trade and purchase goods and services, but here’s a fact you may not be aware of. As of 2016 the United Nations recognises 180 different currencies, everything from the Abkhazian Apsar to the US dollar, however does not recognise a single crypto-currency as legal tender. Despite not receiving official recognition as a currency, the various crypto-currencies are being used around the world in order to carry out trade for goods and services. The most popular of crypto-currencies, Bitcoin, has a market cap of over US$10 billion. Currently there are 654 crypto-currencies in circulation, a trend that […]
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 […]
