How the Victorian Government is working to position the state as a global Fintech hub
As Fintech innovations continue to disrupt the financial industry, the state government of Victoria in Australia has been working pro-actively to foster a thriving Fintech ecosystem. It is seeking to ensure that Melbourne’s fintech sector reaches its full potential and continues to create jobs, businesses, technologies and exports. Last week, the Victorian Government led a delegation of Fintech companies to Singapore for Money 2020 Asia. During a Corporate Access day prior to the event, OpenGov spoke to Amelia Fyfield, Deputy Commissioner, Southeast Asia, at Trade and Investment Victoria and Alex Veale, Trade Specialist- Professional Services, Trade Victoria, under the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR), to learn […]
Acorns to launch its own superannuation product
The micro-investment app’s new super product, Acorns Grow Australia Super, will be available from March. Micro-investment platform Acorns has today announced it will launch its own super product to sit within its existing app. The Acorns app is popular with Australians, particularly millennials, for its simple approach to investing by rounding up everyday transactions and adding the loose change into an investment portfolio on their behalf. The super product, Acorns Grow Australia Super, will follow in the same footsteps aiming to simplify superannuation. Managing director of Acorns George Lucas said the new super product, like the existing investment product, has been built with young Australians in mind. “We see younger […]
Stuart Stoyan is FinTech Australia’s new chair
Stuart Stoyan is appointed FinTech Australia’s new chair as Simon Cant steps down Stuart Stoyan, who is the founder and CEO of Melbourne-based fintech company MoneyPlace, has become FinTech Australia’s new chair after the association’s founding chair Simon Cant decided to step down. Mr Cant led the founding of FinTech Australia in November 2015. He authored the initial fintech call to action which made the case to government for fintech to become a national innovation priority in the face of global financial services disruption. At the Treasurer’s invitation, Mr Cant also led the development of FinTech Australia’s initial reform priorities agenda in January 2016 which informed the Australian Government’s Backing Australian […]
Milestone for equity crowdfunding in Australian with ASIC licence approval
OnMarket will be one of the first businesses in Australia to raise capital this year through ‘the crowd’, following the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s approval of its equity crowdfunding licence. Equity crowdfunding brings entrepreneurs and retail investors together for the first time and is only now possible following today’s licence approval. Equity crowdfunding enables Australian retail investors to contribute as little as $50, or as much as $10,000 in a business. The new licenses follow federal legislation announced last year. OnMarket will bring investment opportunities through Australian businesses to ordinary Australians through its online platform and app. Investors will be connected to Australian businesses like Revvies, which […]
ATO creates specialist task force to tackle cryptocurrency tax evasion
The Australian Taxation Office is putting together a taskforce of tax experts, lawyers, technology specialists, bankers and financial advisers to help it identify and track cryptocurrency transactions to ensure all taxes are being paid. A top team of industry specialists will work with the tax officials to work out strategies for “following the money” involving transactions using the digital “distributed” ledgers that have no central data storage, which make it difficult to trace and track. The ATO is also believed to be also working closely with banks, Austrac, state revenue offices, which collect revenues, particularly for property transactions, and officials involved with the Black Economy Taskforce, which has been identifying […]
Putting the service back into ‘Financial Services’
Founded in 1998, well before Fintech had emerged as a moniker for disruptors in the finance industry, OFX (formerly OzForex) has been at the forefront of international money transfer services for nearly 20 years. From humble beginnings in a garage in Dee Why, the company has grown from an information only facility, providing up to the minute insights to the best available foreign exchange rates, to a global organisation, handling over $100B in transactions. Fuelled by a desire to ‘give Australians a fair go’ when it came to foreign exchange, the Company has consistently stuck to its ‘fair go’ and ‘great service’ roots. Developing partnership networks with a panel of […]
Fintech Startups Prospa and Credi take out the top spots in the Inaugural Australian National Techboard Awards
Australia’s top trending companies were celebrated at the Techboard 2017 National Awards on 30 November 2017. Over the course of 2017, Techboard has been tracking metrics on Australian Startups and publishing monthly rankings that rank companies on the extent to which the metrics indicate they are trending or gaining mindshare. The Techboard 2017 National awards are a culmination of those monthly rankings and comprised two company categories, the highest trending company overall and the highest trending up and coming company. Techboard held the event in conjunction with StartCon, Australia’s largest startup and growth conference with the backing of leading sponsors MYOB. In this, its first National Awards, the winners […]
Peppermint tech trials a winner with Filipinos
Real-time testing of Peppermint Innovation’s mobile-phone bill payment technology is delivering significant customer insights that will assist the ASX-listed fin-tech company to fully commercialise its unique APP. During the past few months, almost 500 representative agents of Filipino businesses MyWeps, Metro Gas and SUNMar Express have been conducting ‘live’ pilot programs with their customers to help improve Peppermint’s mobile platform.At present, 70 per cent of Filipinos do not operate a bank account and millions of Filipinos receive their weekly wage in cash. They are forced to physically pay their bills in cash, causing them to travel great distances across town to ensure all of their household bills are paid. Peppermint’s […]
