Australia among first to introduce bitcoin regulations
Australia will be one of the first countries to impose regulations for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies under anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws. Australia’s financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, is co-hosting a counter-terrorism financing summit with in Bali and, ahead of this, has highlighted that ecurrency such as bitcoin enables terrorists to transfer money anonymously. Justice Minister Michael Keenan said: “The report recommends strengthening an already robust legal framework to respond to new and emerging threats.” “The government is committed to facilitating growth and innovation in this sector and appropriate anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulation will aid that development.” The AUSTRAC report, Terrorism Financing in Australia 2014, said: “Terrorist groups engaged […]
Apple says Australia’s banks pose a security threat to iPhones
Apple has launched a blistering attack on three of Australia’s big banks, saying their request to collectively negotiate over digital wallet access to the iPhone will compromise the handset’s security, reduce innovation and blunt Apple’s entry into the payments market in Australia. In a sign of growing acrimony between the world’s largest company and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corp, Apple told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that “allowing the banks to form a cartel to collectively dictate terms to new business models and services would set a troubling precedent and delay the introduction of new, potentially disruptive technologies”. The three large banks […]
Visa hunts Australian and New Zealand fintech start-ups with launch of contest
Payments giant Visa is on the hunt for Australia and New Zealand-based fintech start-ups, with the local launch of a contest it hopes will encourage the brightest young companies to develop applications on its network. They will open up applications for the contest it calls The Everywhere Initiative this week, which will require tech companies to tackle real world challenges faced in the financial services sector, with entries closing on August 26. Visa’s global head of digital and marketing transformation Shiv Singh told The Australian Financial Review that while the contest winners would have the opportunity to win up to $70,000, the real value came in the chance to run […]
Major mortgage group partners with US-based fintech player
One of Australia’s largest providers of mortgage broking services has formed a strategic alliance with an international fintech company. AFG today announced that it has partnered with New York-based Biz2Credit. The exclusive agreement will enable AFG brokers to deliver an innovative lending experience for small businesses in Australia. AFG will leverage Biz2Credit’s patented analytics and financial services technology to process small business loan requests more efficiently. “Loan applicants will enter information through a new online small business portal,” AFG said in a statement. “The technology will enable AFG brokers to provide small business borrowers with a broader range of options and deliver faster access to capital.” Using the new online […]
Australian banks take on Apple over digital wallets
Four of Australia’s largest banks have asked the competition regulator for permission to join forces and collectively negotiate with Apple to get their own digital wallets onto iPhones. The banks have become frustrated by the world’s biggest company’s strategy of locking third-party providers of digital wallets off the iPhone platform in favour of its own Apple Pay, which is attacking millions of dollars the big banks earn in interchange fees. This is the first time globally a group of financial institutions has sought authorisation from a competition regulator to negotiate as a bloc against Apple. The lack of iPhone access is particularly frustrating for the banks, as they have invested […]
SocietyOne, Australia’s leading marketplace lender, appoints new board director
SocietyOne, Australia’s leading marketplace lender, today announced the appointment of Brett Clegg to its board as a non-executive director. Mr Clegg is Managing Director of News Corp Australia’s Community Publishing division. Among his responsibilities are its community titles in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, SMB digital marketing services provider newsXtend, and the company’s investments in a range of disruptive technology companies including hipages and Sports Technology Group. Prior to spells with News Corp’s The Australian newspaper where he was deputy chief executive and later Fairfax Media’s CEO and Publisher of the Financial Review Group, Mr Clegg was a journalist, columnist and senior editor on the Australian Financial Review. He […]
1st Annual Australian FinTech Awards 2016
Congratulations to the winners of the 1st Annual Australian FinTech Awards 2016! FINTECH INNOVATION IN PAYMENTS – Afterpay FINTECH INNOVATION IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT (ROBO ADVICE) – Owners Advisory by Macquarie Group FINTECH INNOVATION IN LENDING (FOR FINTECH) – SocietyOne BEST INNOVATION IN CYBER-SECURITY & ANTI-FRAUD – Entersoft BEST FINTECH COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN – Acorns BEST RESEARCH IN FINTECH – Panalitix BEST FINTECH-BANK COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR – OnDeck Capital’s partnership with CBA FINTECH LEADER OF THE YEAR – Daniel Foggo of RateSetter FEMALE FINTECH LEADER OF THE YEAR – Loretta Joseph of the Sydney Stock Exchange FINTECH CTO/CIO OF THE YEAR – Glenn Riddell of RateSetter INSURE-TECH STARTUP OF THE YEAR – […]
Sydney FinTech Valiant announces major partnership with Vow Financial
Valiant, member of FINTECH incubator Stone & Chalk will announce today an official partnership with the Yellow Brick Road Group (Yellow Brick Road and Vow Financial) at the Commercial Conference at The Sheraton Mirage Gold Coast. The partnership grants the Group exclusive partnership access to Valiant’s business loan marketplace platform and its range of non-bank small business lending solutions. Immediately, the Valiant marketplace solves the broker network’s concerns with sourcing, comparing, and securing funding for traditionally hard to finance SMB customers. Alex Molloy, Managing Director of Valiant: “The challenge for brokers is that serving customers in the short term funding space takes an unbalanced amount of time – and for hard to fund customers, […]
