How the rich invest: Afterpay’s Nicholas Molnar makes a cool $200 million
The tearaway market success of Afterpay Touch Group has however supercharged the fortunes of its 28-year-old co-founder Nicholas Molnar. Afterpay is fast becoming the go-to payments platform for Millennial shoppers who want to own products immediately but pay for them in instalments. The instalment service is growing rapidly. It has more than 1.8 million customers and is growing at roughly 3300 new customers per day. There are now 14,000 retailers using the service; it will soon be available for buying Jetstar flights and in May announced it was transacting in the US after cutting a deal with retail powerhouse Urban Outfitters. The potential for growth in the US has been […]
London fintech delegation reveals deeper Australia-UK tech links
Ten Australian fintech start-ups are in London this week on a trade delegation arranged by the Australian British Chamber of Commerce, a sign of deepening ties between the two nation’s technology scenes. While England’s game against Columbia in the World Cup and the tennis at Wimbledon offer potential distractions, so excited is the chamber about its official program it has coined a new acronym for it: The “ABFCC”, or “Australian British FinTech Cyber Catalyst”. The start-ups in the group are Everproof, Trade Ledger, TRAction FinTech, Adviser Ratings, InDebted, CYDARM Technologies, HyperIntel, Airlock Digital, Aleron and Randtronics. There’s a regtech and cybersecurity flavour, and the group is being led by Law […]
Younger advisers drive digital client engagement
Financial planners are increasingly looking for digital means to engage clients, latest Investment Trends research shows. The majority (88%) of advisers are strengthening their client relationships using technology-based solutions to interact and disseminate information, this year’s Planner Technology Report found. The younger generation of planners are driving the digital client experience trend, starting with virtual client meetings. Investment Trends research director Recep Peker said this group expects tablet-enabled client meetings and the use of interactive modelling tools during client meetings to become the norm. Peker added the results provide an opportunity for platforms and planning software providers to collaborate with planners. “Technological advancement is rapidly increasing consumer expectations, a so-called […]
Comprehensive credit reporting laws will drive innovation and protect banks
In the blue corner, lining up to support the bill to ensure customer repayment history is provided in credit reports, are: the government, all of the banks, the entire fintech industry, the credit bureaus, the regulators (especially the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority), and many equivalent western economies such as the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand. In the red corner, lining up against it, are consumer groups and the Labor party. At the last election, Labor also supported “comprehensive credit reporting” like nearly everyone else, but this month decided to back a 12-month delay to the reporting of “repayment history information”, which sits at the core of the regime. Positions […]
The Finnies. The Winners!
Congratulations to the 2018 Finnie Awards Finalists and Winners! FinTech Organisation of the Year WINNER: Afterpay FINALISTS: ● Afterpay ● Avoka ● BRICKX ● Class Limited ● Cover Genius ● Flamingo AI ● Invoice2Go ● MoneyPlace ● OnMarket ● Prospa ● RateSetter Australia ● SocietyOne ● Stockspot Emerging FinTech Organisation of the Year (company must be <2 years old) WINNER: Civic Ledger FINALISTS: ● Civic Ledger ● Finch ● InDebted ● LanternPay ● Link4 ● Longevity App ● Look Who’s Charging ● Medipass ● Till Payments ● TIQK ● TravelbyBit Outstanding FinTech Leader of the Year (can be from any field) WINNER: Katherine McConnell – Founder and CEO, Brighte FINALISTS: […]
Credit report delay shows fintech social risk concerns
Nothing is more valuable to a fintech start-up than data. And some of the best quality data for pricing financial services are the historical records of customer debt repayments. When run through algorithms, these can indicate how likely a prospective borrower is to repay a loan in the future, which helps with assessing risk and pricing. Fintechs are right on the cusp of getting access to this “repayment history information” (RHI), through the government’s new “comprehensive credit reporting” (CCR) regime. The policy is due to come into force in just over a fortnight, and would require banks to attach RHI to customer reports provided to credit bureaus. So the last-minute […]
Credit law delay angers FinTechs
The FinTech industry body has criticised the government and consumer groups over delays to new comprehensive credit reporting laws, with the legislation now remaining in the lower house for three months. It comes as a senate committee gave a tick of approval to the bill, despite a number of concerns surrounding its potential impact on vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians. Treasurer Scott Morrison announced in November last year that the government would be legislating a mandatory comprehensive credit reporting regime, requiring all banks to provide credit information and active consumer credit accounts to eligible reporting bodies. Under the scheme, banks would have to provide “positive” credit data, including how many accounts […]
Academic papers urge fintechs to put purpose above profit
The rise of fintech companies in Australia hasn’t been examined in any rigorous way by academics – until now. The Australian Centre for Financial Studies at Monash University has published four long and detailed academic papers on fintech, written by some of the country’s leading corporate academics. It’s a timely discourse, given growing questions about the high cost of fintech business lending and whether the touted benefits of technological innovations like blockchain will be realised in financial services. The research has been supported by Treasury, the Reserve Bank and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission; financial services heavyweights Westpac and Suncorp; law firm K&L Gates; and FinTech Australia, the government’s […]
