Mastercard partners with Fitbit for contactless wearable payments
Fitbit and Mastercard have partnered to give fitness enthusiasts the ability to make contactless payments with their wearable. Owners of Fitbit’s new smartwatch model Ionic, will be able to add eligible cards and make payments in Australia later this year. “Consumers today are expecting technology to help them accomplish life’s daily tasks with as few steps or clicks as possible,” said Kiki Del Valle, senior vice president, commerce for every device, Mastercard. “By adding payment capabilities to a Fitbit device, Mastercard cardholders who are already on-the-go can easily buy what they need without having to bring their wallet with them.” According to a PwC report last year, more than half […]
expensemanager delivers accounts payable automation software for the SME’s
expensemanager helps businesses to automate each step of their expense, receipt and invoice management process with clever cloud software.
Blockchain solutions provider DigitalX seeks to slash costs via Minority Holder Sale
Through the minority holder sale, DigitalX hopes to cut the administrative costs associated with maintaining a large number of very small holdings. Australian Blockchain technology company DigitalX Ltd (ASX:DCC) is seeking to reduce costs stemming from maintaining a grand number of small shareholdings. In a filing with the ASX, the company has unveiled its plans to conduct a minority holder share sale of parcels of shares with a market value of less than $500. Let’s note that a “marketable parcel” is a parcel of shares with a market value of not less than $500. DigitalX notes that it “values all its shareholders, however it incurs significant administration costs maintaining such […]
International payments the winning application for blockchain
Start-ups and banking institutions around the world are investing heavily in blockchain and on paper it seems like the perfect solution to fixing banking systems, which often times lag behind current technology trends and in some cases were created before the internet. But, it’s never as simple as it seems. As a refresher, a blockchain are a decentralised, secure, digital ledgers that can be used to record many different types of information. First developed as the architecture behind the popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin, it allows for real-time transfers and a dramatic reduction in transfer fees. Theoretically, blockchain should be the perfect solution to the cumbersome process of international payments in particular. […]
Cyber fraud a growing risk to Australia’s financial markets, report finds
Austrac, the federal government’s financial intelligence agency, says foreign crime syndicates are also manipulating markets and laundering money. Australia’s multibillion-dollar financial markets are vulnerable to an increasing risk of cyber-enabled fraud, a new report has found. Overseas-based crime syndicates are also exploiting Australia’s financial infrastructure to manipulate markets and launder money, the report by Austrac, the government’s financial intelligence agency, found. Austrac said the risk of criminal exploitation of the nation’s securities and derivatives sector was “at the high end of medium”. Austrac’s work relied on an analysis of 663 reports of suspicious activity from the corporate sector, made by 68 entities. About half the reports involved suspected fraud. Austrac […]
Bitcoin civil war heats up ahead of key software upgrade
It’s time for bitcoin traders to batten down the hatches. The notoriously volatile cryptocurrency, whose 160 per cent surge this year has captivated everyone from Wall Street bankers to Chinese grandmothers, could be headed for one of its most turbulent stretches yet. Blame the bitcoin civil war. After two years of largely behind-the-scenes bickering, rival factions of computer whizzes who play key roles in bitcoin’s upkeep are poised to adopt two competing software updates at the end of the month. That has raised the possibility that bitcoin will split in two, an unprecedented event that would send shockwaves through the $US41 billion ($53.8 billion) market. While both sides have big […]
Cross-border digital payments company InstaReM receives US$13m investment
The latest round of investment brings the total amount raised to over US$18M from a consortium of some of the largest funds in the region. InstaReM, one of the leading digital cross-border payments companies, has received a US$13 million investment led by GSR Ventures, with participation from SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund (SBI-FMO Fund), Vertex Ventures, Fullerton Financial Holdings (FFH), and Global Founders Capital (GFC). To date, InstaReM has raised over US$18 million in the last 18 months. InstaReM, who lists Australia as its biggest market, will use the investment to build its global payment infrastructure, which has grown eight times in volume since its March 2016 funding. The […]
Former AFL star Ted Richards’ goal for robo adviser Six Park
Ted Richards learnt an important investment lesson as a young footballer, one that would lead him to pursuing a career in the financial services sector after he retired from sport. Richards was drafted to AFL club Essendon as a 17-year-old in late 2000 and once in the sporting system found himself getting paid relatively well for someone his age and wondering what to do with his money. A gift from his father, the Peter Lynch book One Up On Wall Street, gave him the idea of dabbling in the stock market. “I was 17, living at home and didn’t have a lot of expenses, so when I started getting pay […]
