Stone & Chalk says the new paradigm is outside-in innovation
It should come as no surprise that Alex Scandurra, chief executive officer Stone & Chalk, is a passionate advocate of collaboration: the raison d’être, justification, objective and mission statement of Stone & Chalk is to help foster and accelerate the development of world-leading fintech start-ups, by leveraging greater collaboration between stakeholders in the fintech eco-system. Stone & Chalk itself is a collaborative effort between fintech entrepreneurs, venture capital (VC) firms, companies, academia and government, to incubate and nurture financial services-focused tech start-ups in ways not seen in Australia before. “Collaboration is at the core of what we do, and it’s one of the main reasons why we’ve been able to […]
Banks, Apple fight to entrench their dominance in customers’ lives
In one corner is the largest company in the world, Apple. In the other sit three of Australia’s all-powerful banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank, and the country’s fifth biggest lender Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. These corporations have more than $1 trillion in market value between them, and they’re fighting over access to the ubiquitous device that has made Apple such a superpower: the iPhone. As well as being used by millions every day for phone calls, social media and internet access, the smart phone is tipped to play a critical role in how we spend money. This prospect has unleashed a full-scale business brawl, as Apple and the […]
LoanDolphin completes $1.1 million seed funding
LoanDolphin, Australia’s leading loan bidding platform, has successfully raised a total of $1.1 million from key investors to expand its presence in major capital cities in a bid to claim a stake in Australia’s $1.5 trillion home loan market. Strategic investor Barry Lambert provided $1 million, with the remainder from fintech investment firm H2 Ventures. Mr Lambert founded Count Financial in 1980 and sold the company to Commonwealth Bank in 2011 for $373 million. The seed funding values the Sydney-based fintech startup at $5 million post capital raising rounds. LoanDolphin is a free online platform for people to refinance or obtain new home loans at rates […]
Morgan Stanley’s Jeffrey McMillan says collaboration is key in fintech
It makes more sense for a global banking giant such as Morgan Stanley to collaborate with innovative fintech start-ups than to try to be innovative itself, according to the bank’s chief analytics and data officer, Jeffrey McMillan. “Probably 75 per cent of our technology that we build is coming from the fintech sector,” Mr McMillan told The Economist’s Finance Disrupted conference in New York. “We don’t really want to be innovators — that’s not what we’re really good at. “We have $US2 trillion ($2.8 trillion) of assets, 2.2 million customers, 16,000 advisers and that’s our intellectual capital. But we’re not known for being nimble and quick. ”But the bank wants […]
SMEs need protection from online Payday Lenders
In 2015, online SME lending in Australia was around $250m, up from a zero base two years ago. Growth will continue exponentially and online SME lending will become a significant alternative source of funding for Australia’s SMEs. Online lenders perform an important role by lending to thousands of SMEs that would otherwise struggle to attract support from a bank. I am a big supporter of this sector but am concerned that many SMEs don’t understand what they are getting themselves into when they borrow from some lenders that could be more accurately described as SME payday lenders to SMEs. These concerns together with suggestions as to how the interest of […]
Blockchain prototype gives ASX confidence
Market operator ASX says its successful blockchain prototype has given it the confidence that it can develop a system that could eventually replace the trading platform that underpins the $2 trillion Australian market. While chief executive Dominic Stevens cautioned that he could only give a “two week view” having been appointed on August 1, the trials run on the prototype suggested that it could eventually handle the required volumes and make the market more efficient for regulators, ASX customers and other stakeholders. Further development will occur over the next 18 months with Digital Asset Holdings, the blockchain start-up run by former JPMorgan executive Blythe Masters. ASX owns 8.5 per cent […]
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 […]
Barry Lambert backs robo-adviser Ignition Wealth
Financial planning pioneer and Australia’s 167th richest person Barry Lambert has taken another leap into the future, pairing his chairmanship of cloud-based self-managed super administrator Class with a $1 million stake in digitally led adviser Ignition Wealth. Class, which Lambert has chaired for eight years, on Tuesday announced a 71 per cent rise in net profit for the year ended June 30 to $5.83 million. Its Class Super product now administers more than 19 per cent of Australia’s 576,000 self-managed super funds. Ignition Wealth, launched in 2008 as a pure robo-adviser called Advice Connect, is also gaining traction since in February 2015 becoming the first digitally led adviser to be […]
