Novatti makes commercially astute blockchain move
Online payments processor Novatti Group (ASX: NOV) has made a commercially-astute move into blockchain payments by integrating its proprietary payments platform with The Stellar Network, an open-source protocol for exchanging money used via shared servers and “forming a global value exchange network”. In essence, Stellar is a blockchain-payment and asset transfer platform connecting banks, payment systems and customers with a network of low-cost financial services providers, including financial institutions, payment aggregators and technical specialists. The prime feature which attracts users is the commonly-shared commitment to support a new and inclusive global infrastructure for payments. Stellar is growing rapidly and sports a proprietary “native asset” digital currency called the Lumen. Its […]
The Australian fintech startups disrupting home loans
A new type of fintech company is helping home buyer owners save on their home loans, using technology to drive competition and take business from the big banks. The differences between mortgage deals offered by the big four banks are hard to spot and even harder to work out when looking for a home loan deal, according to an investigation by the consumer watchdog, the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission). The watchdog says there are signs of “less-than-vigorous” price competition in Australia’s $1.75 trillion mortgage lending industry. However, a group of startups are trying to change that. A number of property-related fintechs have lodged entries to this year’s Finnie […]
Founded by the crowd: the new way to invest in Australian businesses
Equity crowdfunding is a relatively new way for Australians to invest. It’s a smart way to collect donations for a charity cause or raise capital for new products and with recent changes to Australian investment laws, crowdfunding platforms can now be used to raise equity capital for a business startup. This change opens a new funding stream for fledgling creative companies to gain investors and get their idea into the marketplace faster. So what opportunities and pitfalls are there for businesses who are considering equity crowdfunding? Three forms of crowdfunding There are three forms of crowdfunding and first up is, Donation or Charity based Crowdfunding, which has been available to […]
Novatti launches brand new payments bridge between Australian BPAY and Chinese Alipay
The international online payments landscape is rapidly evolving as yet another ASX-listed payments processor, Novatti Group (ASX: NOV) announced the launch of a bill payment service, able to bridge the gap between Australian supply and Chinese demand. Novatti announced the launch of its new bill payment service chinapayments.com, a financial technology (fintech) platform enabling consumers to pay bills via Australia’s BPAY system, using funds from their Alipay wallet. The race for payments dominance in Australia is truly on with several companies now vying to become the go-to brands to court Chinese customers. Last month, Smartpay (ASX: SMP) struck a deal directly with Alipay, with the deal bringing together the largest […]
BPAY Group develops BPAY BatchMaker and partners with QuickBooks
BPAY Group, Australia’s leading payments provider, has announced its latest innovation, BPAY BatchMaker, a product helping small businesses to pay multiple suppliers at the same time. As part of BPAY Group’s growing portfolio of developing innovative products for the Australian market that solve customer pain points, BPAY BatchMaker helps makes it easier for small businesses to pay multiple bills and create efficiencies by reducing manual processing. BPAY BatchMaker’s first partner is QuickBooks, the global leader in cloud accounting, with 2.8 million subscribers worldwide. The BPAY BatchMaker app is now available to QuickBooks customers, free of charge*, via the QuickBooks app store. The new application is an easy and convenient way […]
New Pelikin app fits the bill for globetrotting millennials
Digital banking start-up Pelikin aims to reshape the way people save, send and spend their money in Australia and while travelling abroad. The company’s slogan is “spend like a local”. It will be targeting “digital natives” with its app and debit card. It hopes to launch by mid-2018 and is currently seeking expressions of interest for investment on Birchal, an Australian equity crowdfunding platform. “Acting as a transactional base for funds, Pelikin wants to create a seamless digital experience between everyday banking and travel banking; an important element for a younger market who are known for their tech-savvy and globetrotting lifestyle,” the company explains. It is currently beta testing features […]
Bureaucracy fumbles Australia’s innovation vision
Australian corporate regulator ASIC’s commissioner, John Price, has called out “innovation” as a concept about which it is easy to wax lyrical, but “difficult to apply in practice”. Mr Price made the comments at the recent Senate Economics Legislation Committee meeting into the regulatory sandbox for fintechs when asked: “Is an innovation benchmark appropriate?” With just five fintech companies making the grade for the first version of the sandbox, and consumer advocacy group Choice arguing the sandbox needed a higher “innovation” bar to entry, his answer suggests this is a bigger question than the regulatory body can begin to answer. Mr Price was “not surprised” with the low take-up of […]
ING – ‘Australia’s oldest fintech’ – is reporting a sudden surge in customer growth
The CEO of ING Australia, Uday Sareen, sees his bank as Australia’s oldest digital finance house. “We are Australia’s oldest fintech and we are profitable,” Uday Sareen told Business Insider as the bank announced its full year results. ING had record customer growth in 2017, adding more than 300,000, or almost a third, to hit 1.36 million active customers. Statutory net profit after tax was up 18% to $348 million.“We’re proud of what we’ve achieved this year,” says Sareen. The Dutch multinational banking and financial services group, which entered Australia in 1999, now has 1,178 employees and holds 3% of the local banking market.Sareen believes ING is at a tipping […]
