University of Sydney’s super-fast blockchain gets even faster
World-wide tests reveal Red Belly Blockchain’s impressive speed New global trials have shown the University of Sydney’s super-fast ‘Red Belly Blockchain’ can process financial transactions 50 percent faster than first anticipated – outperforming some market leaders including VISA for world-wide payments. Blockchain technology is best known as technology that underpins Bitcoin. Blockchain is a public ledger allowing secure and almost instantaneous digital transfer of virtual currencies across the world. The ‘Red Belly Blockchain’ is being developed by researchers at the University of Sydney’s School of Information Technologies. Dr Vincent Gramoli, who heads up the Concurrent Systems Research Group developing the blockchain, said trials over the past three months showed the […]
Lakeba’s disruption potential attracts global investor
Sydney tech firm Lakeba Group has welcomed a heavyweight global investor to its board. The man responsible for taking global investment manager T. Rowe Price global, Todd Ruppert, is now part of the team. Lakeba has positioned itself as a start-up studio focused on the development and rapid commercialisation of digital solutions and the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Giuseppe Porcelli, said Mr Ruppert’s international experience would be a key asset. “Todd’s real-time global insights and his experience with start-ups around the world in smart securities, on-demand insurance and crowd-funding will be invaluable as Lakeba grows,” he told The Australian. Mr Ruppert, who was chief executive of T. Rowe Price […]
Fintech startup, Trade Ledger, launches world-first tech to help banks fight off global tech giants
Career technologists, Martin McCann and Dr. Matthias Born, are launching a world-first lending tech for banks and traditional lenders that will help to equip them against competition from tech giants such as Facebook, Tencent, and eBay wanting to enter financial services. Trade Ledger is the world’s first business lending platform that transforms digital data from business supply chains in real time, allowing banks to assess and regularly update credit and default risk of businesses they lend to. Currently this is only done on a one-off or infrequent basis on a very small sample of invoices, and not on any other trade documents. The platform will finally give banks more advanced network and data […]
Moneysoft launches Round-ups, allowing people to invest spare change into their super and investment funds
Superannuation and investment funds have a new way to boost the engagement of their members and clients with the launch of Moneysoft’s latest digital solution, Round-ups. Round-ups lets people make small, regular contributions to their investment or superannuation account by automatically investing the spare change from their everyday transactions. Whether offered as a stand-alone application or integrated with existing digital platforms, Round-ups is highly customisable for each institution’s individual needs and brand. It’s a turn-key solution that uses enterprise-grade technology and is designed for an optimal mobile experience on smartphones and tablets. “Round-ups is available to superannuation funds, and investment platforms, to help them grow customer engagement and encourage wealth […]
Australia’s fintech festival to have world-first gender equality commitment
Australia’s inaugural fintech festival will have what is believed to be a world-first gender equality target, as part of an ongoing campaign to drive increased levels of female participation in Australia’s most important startup sector. FinTech Australia today announced that the Intersekt fintech festival would be seeking to have an equal number of female and male speakers. Intersekt is being held in Melbourne, Australia from 27 October to 3 November. It is set to be the most influential and exciting event of its type in Asia. It includes a two-day Collab/Collide Summit, a three-day hackathon, two community days and a one-day blockchain event. The State Government of Victoria is Intersekt’s […]
IRESS invests in leading Australian RegTech Lucsan
Australian technology leaders, IRESS and Lucsan, today announced a partnership that will accelerate the application of RegTech in the financial services landscape. IRESS is making an equity investment in Lucsan: an established, Australian-owned RegTech and data analytics company providing leading technology solutions to a wide range of companies, including Australia’s major banks. Lucsan’s vision is to help financial institutions proactively reduce the ongoing cost of compliance and implement improved practices with its RegTech solutions. The minority equity position will support Lucsan’s own growth strategy as it focuses on expanding its business in Australia and more broadly into international markets. Equity investments by IRESS IRESS was founded in Melbourne in […]
IDC names top 10 fastest growing fintech companies in A/NZ
IDC Financial Insights has unveiled a list of 10 fast-growing fintechs in Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) as part of the broader FinTech 101 list for Asia/Pacific. “IDC’s FinTech Fast 101” refers to the fast-growing fintech players in Asia/Pacific based on extensive on-ground analysis of the dominant fintech players within the region. 10 Fastest Growing FinTechs in Australia and New Zealand Afterpay Touch Group Airwallex CoinJar Data Republic Harmoney HashChing identitii Prospa SocietyOne Xero Note: List is arranged alphabetically, Source IDC, 2017 IDC’s fintech list makes a reference to the Financial Insights’ Triple U framework — ubiquity, utility, and usability. This is a framework that evaluates fintech data across key metrics such as addressable […]
Australia’s Alternative Finance Future goes from strength to strength
Australia is emerging as a regional leader in the $300bn global Alt-Fi market. Alternative finance (or Alt-Fi) is a catch-all phrase used to describe emerging, digital financial services models such as peer-to-peer and marketplace lending (business and consumer finance), crowdfunding and invoice lending. However, for Australia to stay ahead greater consumer and business awareness is needed as well as policy and regulatory settings that continue to evolve with the development of this nascent sector. Globally this market is expanding quickly, up 100 percent year-on-year, with China the dominant world market (in terms of absolute volume), accounting for 85 percent of the total market. A staggering US$243.28 billion was raised through […]
