Younger advisers drive digital client engagement
Financial planners are increasingly looking for digital means to engage clients, latest Investment Trends research shows. The majority (88%) of advisers are strengthening their client relationships using technology-based solutions to interact and disseminate information, this year’s Planner Technology Report found. The younger generation of planners are driving the digital client experience trend, starting with virtual client meetings. Investment Trends research director Recep Peker said this group expects tablet-enabled client meetings and the use of interactive modelling tools during client meetings to become the norm. Peker added the results provide an opportunity for platforms and planning software providers to collaborate with planners. “Technological advancement is rapidly increasing consumer expectations, a so-called […]
Comprehensive credit reporting laws will drive innovation and protect banks
In the blue corner, lining up to support the bill to ensure customer repayment history is provided in credit reports, are: the government, all of the banks, the entire fintech industry, the credit bureaus, the regulators (especially the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority), and many equivalent western economies such as the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand. In the red corner, lining up against it, are consumer groups and the Labor party. At the last election, Labor also supported “comprehensive credit reporting” like nearly everyone else, but this month decided to back a 12-month delay to the reporting of “repayment history information”, which sits at the core of the regime. Positions […]
The Finnies. The Winners!
Congratulations to the 2018 Finnie Awards Finalists and Winners! FinTech Organisation of the Year WINNER: Afterpay FINALISTS: ● Afterpay ● Avoka ● BRICKX ● Class Limited ● Cover Genius ● Flamingo AI ● Invoice2Go ● MoneyPlace ● OnMarket ● Prospa ● RateSetter Australia ● SocietyOne ● Stockspot Emerging FinTech Organisation of the Year (company must be <2 years old) WINNER: Civic Ledger FINALISTS: ● Civic Ledger ● Finch ● InDebted ● LanternPay ● Link4 ● Longevity App ● Look Who’s Charging ● Medipass ● Till Payments ● TIQK ● TravelbyBit Outstanding FinTech Leader of the Year (can be from any field) WINNER: Katherine McConnell – Founder and CEO, Brighte FINALISTS: […]
Credit report delay shows fintech social risk concerns
Nothing is more valuable to a fintech start-up than data. And some of the best quality data for pricing financial services are the historical records of customer debt repayments. When run through algorithms, these can indicate how likely a prospective borrower is to repay a loan in the future, which helps with assessing risk and pricing. Fintechs are right on the cusp of getting access to this “repayment history information” (RHI), through the government’s new “comprehensive credit reporting” (CCR) regime. The policy is due to come into force in just over a fortnight, and would require banks to attach RHI to customer reports provided to credit bureaus. So the last-minute […]
Credit law delay angers FinTechs
The FinTech industry body has criticised the government and consumer groups over delays to new comprehensive credit reporting laws, with the legislation now remaining in the lower house for three months. It comes as a senate committee gave a tick of approval to the bill, despite a number of concerns surrounding its potential impact on vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians. Treasurer Scott Morrison announced in November last year that the government would be legislating a mandatory comprehensive credit reporting regime, requiring all banks to provide credit information and active consumer credit accounts to eligible reporting bodies. Under the scheme, banks would have to provide “positive” credit data, including how many accounts […]
Academic papers urge fintechs to put purpose above profit
The rise of fintech companies in Australia hasn’t been examined in any rigorous way by academics – until now. The Australian Centre for Financial Studies at Monash University has published four long and detailed academic papers on fintech, written by some of the country’s leading corporate academics. It’s a timely discourse, given growing questions about the high cost of fintech business lending and whether the touted benefits of technological innovations like blockchain will be realised in financial services. The research has been supported by Treasury, the Reserve Bank and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission; financial services heavyweights Westpac and Suncorp; law firm K&L Gates; and FinTech Australia, the government’s […]
FinTech Australia announce finalist for The Finnies 2018
FinTech Australia and Jobs for NSW have come together for the second year to host the national fintech awards, The Finnies. The Finnies will culminate in a Gala Awards Night Wednesday 13 June 2018 in Sydney. For more information go here. Here is the full list of finalists for the 2018 Finnies: Best Workplace Diversity ● BRICKX ● FirstStep Investments ● Link4 ● Valiant Finance Emerging FinTech Leader of the Year ● Brad Delamare – CEO, Tank Stream Labs ● Louis Edwards – Head of Renewable Energy Finance, RateSetter Australia ● Nick Molnar – Co-Founder & CEO, Afterpay ● Jack O’Reilly – Director, funding.com.au ● Rebecca Schot-Guppy – Community Manager, […]
MYOB and BPAY join forces to offer a new payment option for Australian small businesses
MYOB has collaborated with BPAY to add a new payment option to its Invoice Payments solution. The collaboration will see MYOB, one of Australia’s leading providers of business management solutions, offer BPAY payments solutions to small businesses, in addition to the existing credit card payment option as part of its online business solutions. MYOB’s payment software helps small businesses get paid four times faster MYOB’s customer data shows that, on average, businesses take 42.6 days to get paid, while those who convert to MYOB merchants and accept electronic payments directly through the platform are paid in under 10 days. “We know cashflow is one of the big pain points […]
