How integrating digital can help banks save money, improve sales
By Don Bergal, CMO at Avoka Retail banks are successfully integrating digital into a continuous omnichannel experience for customers across marketing, selling and delivery of their products. With the internet continuing to make inroads into almost every aspect of our daily lives, the need for this integration — and the opportunity it presents — is obvious. Digital Customer Engagement Heavy use of digital for promotional and marketing purposes — through social media, internet search, digital ads, websites and so on — is now commonplace. The service element, i.e. how customers consume financial products, has also been transformed by the rise and popularity of online banking. For instance, most banks now […]
How automation is shaping fintech plans
Digital innovation and partner collaboration are key. A new industry report calls for investment banks to take advantage of technological innovations by optimising outdated operating models, improving automation and undertaking a digital transformation. Australian consultants EY’s Capital Markets: building the investment bank of the future report reveals that, despite continued efforts to reduce costs, investment banks are becoming less efficient. These institutions remain reliant upon maintaining decades-old, complex and inflexible IT infrastructure. The report suggests banks can do more to enhance their business by harnessing fintech innovations. For example, over the short-term investment banks can develop robotic process automation (RPA) and advanced analytics to sort through large amounts of data. […]
VentureCrowd completes first Israeli crowdfunding deal with Knowmail
VentureCrowd, Australia’s leading alternative assets investment platform, today announced the successful completion of a $155,000 crowdfunding round for Knowmail. The company is the first Israeli startup to be funded through VentureCrowd under a partnership with investment management firm Kentgrove Capital. VentureCrowd raised $155,000 in convertible notes, as part of a larger US$3 million funding round led by reputable venture capital firms CE Ventures, AfterDox, Plus Ventures and 2B Angels. The investment gave sophisticated investors on the VentureCrowd platform the opportunity to access convertible notes at an interest rate of 4.5 per cent per annum. Knowmail, one of few startups to participate in the Microsoft Accelerator Program, is creating an artificial […]
Octet forms alliance with Mastercard to give businesses a better way to pay
Octet Finance, the Australian company revolutionising the supply chain finance industry for small and medium businesses, has formed an alliance with Mastercard to enable businesses to pay global suppliers safely, securely and quickly. The alliance will enable Mastercard’s members to offer their B2B clients the ability to make cross-border supplier payments using their existing Mastercard debit and credit cards. Octet users will benefit from the integration of Mastercard’s cutting edge payment offerings, such as the Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (MPGS) and the configurable Virtual Card Number (VCN) feature, on the Octet platform. Octet Finance is the supply chain technology platform that enables payments to be made through the secure Mastercard […]
Barry Lambert predicts 2017 The Year of the Robo
“YOU DON’T REVOLUTIONISE YOUR COBB & CO BUSINESS BY BUYING FASTER HORSES.”. IGNITION WEALTH INVESTOR AND MENTOR BARRY LAMBERT PREDICTS 2017 THE YEAR OF THE ROBO Digital financial advice is poised for rapid uptake in Australia, with 2017 set to be the year when professional financial businesses adopt ‘robo-advice’ as an essential element of their client offering. Ignition Wealth is at the forefront of the pack of Australian digital financial advice technology providers. “Everyone is talking about the cloud revolution and many are looking to change their technology because they want to look smarter. Changing technology is very expensive if it does not revolutionise your business. Financial planning, a […]
How your broker’s performance numbers mislead you
by Doug Morris, CEO, Sharesight The human brain is easily conditioned. Do something for long enough and even the strangest things begin to appear normal. Online brokers don’t set out to deceive but the simplistic way they report performance has a similar, normalising effect. If your returns have been presented in a particular way for long enough, the figures become right even when they’re wrong. This is a problem for Sharesight as much as it is for the clients of online brokers. Accustomed to seeing the most basic reporting in their account, they load their data into Sharesight and struggle to understand how two sets of figures can be so […]
How this fintech startup is improving content marketing and lead generation
Financial marketplace startup, Neu.Capital, claims cost per acquisition has dropped by 60 per cent and content marketing quality has gone up after implementing an inbound marketing and sales platform. The company was formed in 2015, and provides an alternative capital marketplace for established mid-sized Australian and New Zealand companies looking to raise debt or equity of up to $100 million. The matchmaking service officially launched in August with six deals live in the platform, two to launch in coming weeks, then several more in January 2017. It also plans to launch in the UK in Q1 next year. Neu.Capital co-founder, Joshua Khoddami, told CMO lead generation activity had been going […]
Xero announces HY17 results, Australian subscribers grow 45%
Xero Limited (NZX: XRO; ASX: XRO) today reported its half-yearly earnings to September 30, 2016, executing strongly on diversified global growth while making progress towards EBITDA break-even. Achieving milestones of annualised committed monthly revenue of $303.2 million and operating revenue of $137.2 million, a 48% year-on-year increase, Xero’s paying subscriber base reached 862,000, and reached a total lifetime value of $1.7 billion. Revenue growth rates, while strong, were adversely impacted by the strengthened New Zealand dollar. Xero remains focused on driving diversified global growth and executing on its business strategy, including building towards a high-margin business. “Our focus is to build a sustainable global business with high margins, while managing […]
